According to a prominent leaker, after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 brought substantial performance gains and better efficiency, its successor is poised to achieve even greater heights. The next iteration of Qualcomm’s flagship platform is expected to incorporate a new CPU architecture, as well as significantly higher clock speeds.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is rumored to feature a single prime Cortex-X4 CPU core running at an unprecedented 3.7 GHz, along with five powerful cores for performance and two smaller cores for efficiency.
Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station says that the model number of the upcoming chip is SM8650, and its GPU will be named Adreno 750. The chip will reportedly continue to be manufactured by TSMC, moving from the N4 to the N4P node, which offers a slight increase in efficiency while still using the 4nm process technology.
TSMC has decided not to go for the 3nm process due to the longer production cycle and is opting for the N4P process, which is deemed affordable and efficient. Taiwanese factories are set to begin mass production once the phone companies have completed the trial.
However, the next Qualcomm flagship is not expected to come out until the end of the year as the chipmaker typically unveils its premium SoC around November-December. Chinese phone makers including Xiaomi and Motorola are expected to be the first to use the unannounced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
