Samsung’s monopoly on the fastest Snapdragon chip might be over

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is an impressive return to form for Qualcomm after last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 turned out to be a somewhat disappointing smartphone chip. The best Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip has been reserved for Samsung phones though, but that could change soon.

Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station claimed that Samsung’s monopoly on the so-called Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor is over. They further added that this higher-clocked chip will soon be available for domestic smartphone brands. Check out the machine-translated post below.

There’s no word on specific brands that will launch “Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2” phones. In saying so, we’re guessing that the likes of ASUS, OnePlus, and Xiaomi might have devices in the works. After all, OnePlus T and Xiaomi T series handsets are a fixture in the second half of the year, while refreshed ROG Phones sometimes make an appearance too.

What to know about this upgraded SoC?

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy differs from the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 by offering higher peak CPU and GPU clock speeds. The CPU in particular saw a frequency upgrade from 3.2GHz to 3.36GHz (a 5% boost). We also get a 719MHz GPU, up from 680MHz in the standard chip (a 5.7% increase). Finally, it’s believed the chip’s AI silicon has also received a slight speed bump.

This isn’t quite the same giant upgrade as the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 was to the vanilla Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Last year’s Plus chip saw CPU and GPU speeds boosted by 10% as well as power efficiency improving by 15 to 30%. But this was primarily due to a switch from Samsung manufacturing to TSMC. Both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the souped-up chip are made by TSMC, to begin with.

In other words, it doesn’t seem like you’re gaining much in real-world terms by waiting for an upgraded Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone over an existing 2023 flagship phone. But those who simply want the fastest speeds possible might have a few more choices later this year.