We’re just over a week away from the unveiling of the Galaxy S9, so naturally the Galaxy S10 rumors are beginning to bubble up. This week, frequent smartphone leaker Roland Quandt shared an interesting line from a LinkedIn profile which seems to suggest that the Snapdragon 855 processor will be a 7nm chip. Qualcomm has yet to confirm this, of course, but its contractors appear to have spoiled the surprise at least a few months early.
On Wednesday, we reported on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X24 LTE modem. The chipmaker already confirmed that its X24 will be the first modem built on the 7nm FinFET process, but it won’t start shipping with commercial devices until the end of 2018. In other words, it won’t be ready for the Snapdragon 845 (which is the SoC rumored to be built in to the Galaxy S9), but it will have begun shipping by the time the Snapdragon 855 debuts.
Qualcomm won't say it, but their contractors do. Snapdragon 855 (SDM855) is the first 7nm SoC. (probably the one the X24 modem ends up in) pic.twitter.com/Ot1J34fQoG
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) February 15, 2018
Qualcomm hasn’t said anything official about the process by which its next SoC will be built, but a single line from a LinkedIn profile (which Quandt highlights in the tweet above) suggests it will be 7nm. If this information is correct, the Snapdragon 855 could be the world’s first 7nm SoC, and may even feature the X24 LTE modem.
Samsung had been manufacturing Qualcomm’s 10nm chips, but as SamMobile points out, the chipmaker reportedly ditched Samsung in favor of TSMC last year in an effort to move forward with 7nm technology. Providing all of these reports line up, Samsung fans could be in for a significant leap forward with next year’s Galaxy S10.
