Samsung has reported reserved the first batch of Snapdragon 845 CPUs for the upcoming Galaxy S9. The octa-core processor, which was inadvertently leaked when Qualcomm lodged a complaint against Apple with the International Trade Commission back in July, is the successor to the Snapdragon 835.
This won’t be the first time that the firm has teamed up with Qualcomm, though. It previously reached an agreement to acquire the first shipment of Snapdragon 835 CPUs for the Galaxy S8—and that win-win deal went smoothly, so it’s only natural that they want to work together again.
In line with its predecessor, the Galaxy S9 will only ship with a Snapdragon processor in China and the United States. It should come with the Samsung’s next-generation in-house CPU—dubbed the Exynos 8900—in all other markets, including Germany, India and, of course, the United Kingdom.
Earlier today, we reported that the Galaxy S9 could be the South Korean company’s first modular smartphone. It’s expected to sport an array of magnetic connectors, which will let you attach a ton of different accessories, like a battery pack, a gamepad and a 360-degree camera.
vbs221 on August 21st, 2017 at 13:41 UTC »
This is why I hope most of this year's flagships get Project Treble. Let's face it, Snapdragon 845 is going to be a marginal improvement over 835. The only reason why I'd be worried with a year-old SoC is Qualcomm's support for newer versions of Android.
When that is fully ruled out of the equation with Project Treble, then they can keep their 845s to themselves if they want to–I won't care if my phone has 835 or 845. They're both more than enough.
LogicProfessor on August 21st, 2017 at 12:52 UTC »
This is the reason we need more competition in this space.
Edit: I am referring to Qualcomm. What Samsung is doing is pure business and that's their prerogative. I see it no different than McDonald's cornering the market on chicken.
xdamm777 on August 21st, 2017 at 12:33 UTC »
So according to the original report this is already a done deal and we can expect S9 "exclusivity" of most Snapdragon 845 chips just like the S8 called dibs on the 835.
Based on this, can we expect most of next year's early flagships (LG V7, HTC U12?, Sony XZY?) to either release at a later day again or with the Snapdragon 835/836?
I believe production of the 845 chipset can meet some considerable delays and setbacks considering Qualcomm is aiming for a 7nm manufacturing process. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.