A few weeks ago, Samsung unveiled its next-gen 8nm chip that will likely power several of the Galaxy S10 models next year. But it’s also likely that the next Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm will power the remaining Galaxy S10 models. It’s something Samsung has done for years with both the Galaxy S and Note lines.
Qualcomm briefly teased the Snapdragon 855 a few months ago, with a proper announcement set for later this week during Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Tech Summit. But some of the chip’s specifications were posted online before Qualcomm’s announcement, spoiling the surprise.
The Snapdragon 855 has appeared in various leaks, with some people referring to it as the Snapdragon 8150 while suggesting Qualcomm would change the numbering system for its top mobile processor. It turns out that’s an internal numbering scheme, with the chip still set to be marketed as the Snapdragon 855.
Per WinFuture, it was TechCrunch that has mistakenly published some information about the Snapdragon 855 ahead of time. The Snapdragon 855 will be the first commercial platform for mobile devices that will support “multi-gigabit 5G connections.” That’s hardly a surprising revelation, considering that Qualcomm already announced that various Android phones next year will feature 5G support, thanks to its Snapdragon X50 5G modem. The modem will be built into the Snapdragon 855 platform.
The processor will also feature a built-in Neural Processing Unit (NPU) which is something we expect to see on most flagship mobile processors these days. Apple and Huawei already have chips with NPUs, and so does Google. Furthermore, Samsung’s Exynos 9820 also comes with an NPU of its own.
The Snapdragon 855 is rumored to pack three CPU clusters, including a quad-core power saving cluster clocked at 1.78GHz and a triple-core high-performance cluster that will reach up to 2.42GHz. One of the high-end cores, WinFuture notes, is expected to go up to 2.84GHz. The Snapdragon 855 platform is also said to integrate a speedier Adreno 640 GPU.
While its predecessor was mass-produced by Samsung last year, things will change for the Snapdragon 855. The chip is going to be manufactured by TSMC with a 7nm process. TSMC is also the supplier of 7nm A12 Bionic processors for the 2018 iPhones and iPad Pros.
The Galaxy S10 will not be the only 2019 phone to make use of the Snapdragon 855 chip. It’s very likely that various top Android devices set to launch next year, including the OnePlus 7, Pixel 4, Note 10, as well as the various 5G phones planned for the coming months will have the new Qualcomm flagship processor inside.
