What you need to know
- The next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is supposedly going to be quite expensive.
- Qualcomm's higher-than-usual asking price for its next flagship mobile platform will apparently make the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 the chip of choice for next year's Android flagships.
- Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC could be reserved for the top-of-the-line models.
Qualcomm is apparently charging a premium for its next flagship mobile platform, so it looks like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be the go-to chipset for many of the flagship Android phones in 2024.
According to the often reliable leaker Digital Chat Station, Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC will cost OEMs more than it did for previous flagship chips (via Android Authority). This means that it will be more expensive for smartphone manufacturers to use, so they're more likely to use it only in their top-of-the-line models, where they can charge a premium for the extra performance.
Meanwhile, those OEMs are tipped to opt for the last-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or a Dimensity processor for the regular variants of their next flagship lineup. As a result, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 might be limited to certain devices like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, for example. That said, in some regions, the next-gen flagship model from Samsung could mark the company's return to form by including an Exynos chipset again, as per Pocket-lint.
As for other brands looking for cheaper alternatives, MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 SoC could be their chipset of choice for 2024. Digital Chat Station recently claimed that this processor could see daylight in October, featuring an eight-core CPU design comprising four Cortex-X4 and four Cortex-A720 cores (via Gizmochina).
The Dimensity 9300 is also tipped to be produced using TSMC's similar N4P 4nm process node that will be used to build the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
As for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm's chipset from last year remains a beast of a chip that's powering some of the best Android phones on the market right now, and it can even go toe-to-toe with the iPhone 14 in day-to-day use. It's so powerful that Android phone makers could probably get away with using it for another year, especially on more affordable phones that don't need the latest and greatest specs.
