With just a few days to go until the Galaxy Note 10 becomes official, we have an unexpected twist in the Note 10 story. It turns out we didn’t know everything there was to know about the upcoming handset after all, as Samsung might have one surprise left. Well, it would have been a surprise if it didn’t just leak…
Samsung flagship phones usually come with two different processors, including the latest Qualcomm and Samsung processors. The Snapdragon flagship platform usually powers the US- and China-bound Galaxy S or Note phones, while a comparable Exynos chip made by Samsung is found inside the versions sold around the rest of the world.
This will change significantly starting with the Galaxy Note 10, well-known leaker Evan Blass revealed on Twitter. “In the US, only Verizon Note 10 models will be Qualcomm-powered, and they will be regular Snapdragon 855, NOT SD855+,” he said. “The other carriers, like the rest of the world, will have Exynos 9825 versions, I’m told.”
In a previous message, Blass said that Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 855+ platform would power some of the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ phones. That’s not going to be the case if this new information is accurate.
It’s unclear at this time why only Verizon’s Note 10 phones will pack Snapdragon 855 chips. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Verizon still operates a CDMA network, or that Verizon will also sell the 5G version of the Galaxy Note 10. Or both. Then again, Sprint also operates a CDMA network and might sell the Note 10 5G phones soon as well.
As for the new Exynos 9825, recent reports have shown that the new chip will be faster than the Exynos 9820 chip that powers the Galaxy S10 sold outside of the US and China. The upgrade is what made us wonder whether the Qualcomm version of the Note 10 would get the brand new 855+ platform a few weeks ago. But it sure looks like that’s out of the question, and Samsung is also seemingly looking to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm silicon.
The Galaxy Note 10 series will be unveiled on August 7th, at which point the phones’ specs will be made official.
