First Smartphone Running Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 To Launch Mid-October

Qualcomm’s next flagship smartphone processor dubbed Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to power smartphones this fall. While there have been several leaks and rumors about its specs, a new leak questions the prior benchmarks.

A new leak from the tipster Digital Chat Station hints that the previously leaked benchmarks were based on low-frequency engineering samples of the chipset. This is not surprising as early silicon usually runs at lower speeds for stability testing purposes. But it does suggest that the numbers that have appeared so far might not be showing the final performance.

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First Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Phone Launching In October?

The new details shared by the leaker also suggest that the latest version of Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will have a “2+6” core architecture. The 2 could refer to a pair of high-performance cores that could have clock speeds of 3.6 GHz to 4.0 GHz. 

The other 6 cores could hint toward the efficiency cores, though the tipster did not share their clock speed details. Still, the chipset is claimed to have scores of around 2,700 points in single-core and 10,000 points in multi-core tests in Geekbench 6. 

The leak also hints at a mid-October launch for the first smartphone backed by the latest chip. Xiaomi and OnePlus are usually among the first brands to leverage Qualcomm’s new high-end chip.

Xiaomi is also rumored to launch the Xiaomi 15 series in October, possibly making it the first phone to incorporate the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Besides, OnePlus will use the same chip in its upcoming flagship, the OnePlus 13. As of now, rumors suggest a design overhaul for the smartphone, with a possible departure from the company’s signature rear camera to incorporate a stacked camera system.

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Samsung To Start 2nm GAA Chip Mass Production In 2025

Samsung has seen a huge decline in its semiconductor chip foundry business in the past few years. The company did not find any major customers for its Foundry's 3nm and newer-generation 4nm process nodes. However, the company is still going strong with the development of new chip process nodes, including 2nm nodes.

Samsung is said to start the mass production of its second-gen 3nm chips in 2024 and 2nm chips in 2025. According to Business Korea, Samsung Foundry has a next-gen Gate All Around (GAA) tech in the works, which will be used in the company’s 2nm process technology.

The mass production of the new semiconductor chips based on the new tech is said to kick off next year. Samsung will reportedly put forward a paper on third-gen GAA tech at the VLSI Symposium 2024 expo.