Samsung’s next batch of foldable phones is coming in mid-August. We’re far from getting Samsung’s invitation to the event. But that’s when we expect the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 to hit stores. There’s certainly no shortage of rumors detailing these foldable devices, confirming that Samsung will continue to bet big on the new form factor. The most recent leak delivers excellent news for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 flagship, as Samsung will reportedly use a new processor variant for the handset.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus System-on-Chip (SoC) should debut in the coming months. If the report is accurate, then the Galaxy Z Fold 4 might not have to deal with the same overheating problems that plagued the Galaxy S22 launch.
Why Samsung throttled the Galaxy S22 performance
The Galaxy S22 series came with a big issue right out of the gate. Early buyers discovered that Samsung throttled the phone’s performance to avoid overheating and prop up battery life.
Samsung fixed the problem, but the Galaxy S22 throttling turned into a big domestic scandal for the company in Korea. The smartphone giant apologized to buyers and shareholders and defended against accusations that cost-cutting policies led to the throttling issue. Also, the company promised to improve the Exynos SoCs that go into Galaxy phones.
The throttling problem primarily impacted Galaxy S22 phones featuring the Exynos 2200 chip rather than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. This Galaxy Z Fold 4 rumor is so exciting. It implies that Samsung won’t put an Exynos chip inside the next-gen flagship foldable.
The chip alone might not alleviate overheating concerns. Recent reports indicated that the Galaxy S22 throttling is not just Samsung’s fault. The Galaxy S22 phones do not feature effective cooling, hence the cost-cutting speculation. But both the Exynos and Qualcomm chips inside the S22 models might be prone to overheating.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 processor upgrade
If that’s accurate, there’s little Samsung can do about the latest reference ARM design. But Samsung could still improve cooling on future handsets to avoid having to throttle peak performance as often.
Also, let’s not forget that the Exynos 2200 turned the Galaxy S22 throttling issue into a massive PR problem in Korea. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 versions might have had their own throttling issues. But that wasn’t as obvious as the Exynos 2200 issues after the Galaxy S22 launch.
Well-known Samsung leaker Ice Unverse said on Twitter that he can confirm the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 will get the same processor upgrade. That’s the TSMC-made Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus model. Qualcomm is yet to announce the annoyingly named Gen 1 model. But the processor release isn’t surprising. This wouldn’t be the first time Qualcomm releases an upgraded flagship SoC in the second half of the year.
The leaker has been critical of Samsung’s recent mistakes, including the Exynos overheating blunders. He makes no mention of an Exynos 2200 “Plus” variant that would match the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. This seems to imply that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 will only come in Snapdragon versions.
Not to mention that Samsung will want to avoid another Galaxy S22 throttling scandal at all costs.
Considering all these developments, it sure looks like the Galaxy Z Fold 4 should not experience any processor throttling issues, even though overheating worries remain.
