What you need to know
- Samsung is rumored to be using a special version of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for its next flagship series.
- The Galaxy S23 phones are supposedly getting a high-frequency variant of that chipset, which won't purportedly be available to other brands.
- However, this exclusive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 variant may only be coming to the European models of the phones.
It is no secret that Samsung's next flagship series will use Qualcomm's latest mobile platforms in lieu of its in-house Exynos chipset, but a new rumor may provide some more insights into the type of processor that will be used in those phones.
According to Ice universe, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series will be powered by a high-frequency version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which made its debut a few days ago. This variant is said to be exclusive to Samsung's next flagship models, implying that they will most likely have the best Qualcomm processors of any Android phone in 2023.
The tipster further claimed that the special variant of the chipset will be available on the Galaxy S23 models for the European market, where the best Samsung phones were previously equipped with Exynos. If this is correct, it will be great news for consumers in the region who have often complained about the slow performance of Exynos-toting models. That said, the global variants of the Galaxy S23 series are picking up the new Snapdragon chipsets as well.
Qualcomm's latest mobile processor, on the other hand, advances gaming graphics and the AI engine. It is also the first mobile chipset to include Wi-Fi 7, which doubles Wi-Fi 6 speeds. Furthermore, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supports up to 200MP sensors and 8K HDR video capture, among other improvements.
Ice universe posted a screenshot of a purported Geekbench 5 listing for a Samsung device bearing the model number SM-S918B, which is presumably the Galaxy S23 Ultra. While the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has a powerful 3.2GHz Cortex-X3 core, this special variant promises up to 3.36GHz.
The real-world difference between these clock speeds may be subtle, and it could be difficult to tell in practice how far the overclocked version goes in terms of speed and performance. A higher maximum clock of the high-performance core does wonders on paper at the very least.
Qualcomm unveiled the new chip at its recently concluded Snapdragon Summit, and it promises to be 25% faster and 45% more efficient than its predecessor. That alone is a huge improvement on its own.
