Qualcomm's snapdragon 865 was the best option for manufacturers who wanted to deliver a premium flagship experience. The 5G connectivity its offers made it the SoC of choice for major brands. However, the chipmaker unveiled a mid-year refresh in the form of the Snapdragon 865+, with Asus and Lenovo as the early adopters. The former is slated to introduce its third-generation gaming-grade model later this month called the ROG Phone 3. Meanwhile, the latter also announced its plans to enter the mobile gaming market with its Legion handset.

While the new chipset is geared primarily for improved 5G connectivity, Qualcomm confirms the gaming performance will get a substantial boost as well. Thus, Lenovo hopes to use this new platform to launch its first foray into the crowded gaming segment of the smartphone industry. Surprisingly, it is an interesting coincidence that the Legion will debut on the same date as the ROG Phone 3 on Wednesday, July 22.

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However, PhoneArena reports that Lenovo's presentation will be earlier than Asus, which should make it the first unveiled device with the upgraded silicon. Aside from the usual futuristic graphics and LED lighting found on most gaming smartphones, there are design elements that set the Legion apart from its competitors. To emphasise its gaming-focused nature, the branding, camera placement, extra charging port, and speaker grilles are positioned with landscape orientation primarily in mind.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor will purportedly be paired to a 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM with a generous 512 GB UFS 3.0 internal storage. It's 6.67-inch 2340 x 1080 AMOLED screen is speculated to have a 144 Hz refresh rate and 270 Hz touch sampling rate. These are ideal features that reduce on-screen latency and touch input response time. Images show twin front-firing speakers on the top and bottom, which will likely output stereo audio when it is held in a horizontal position.

Lenovo Legion smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+
Surprisingly, it is an interesting coincidence that the Legion will debut on the same date as the ROG Phone 3 on July 22, 2020. Photo: Lenovo

To remove the notch, Lenovo is mounting the front-facing 20-megapixel motorised pop-up camera on the side of the frame instead. Battery capacity is rated at 5,000 mAh and supposedly supports 90W fast-charging technology. On the other hand, there are conflicting reports that claim the Legion is limited to 45W only.