New specs tipped for the one AP chip that could power the Galaxy S23 series

During the summer, Twitter tipster Digital Chat Station said that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Applications Processor (AP) would be available in a 1+2+2+3 configuration made up of one Cortex-X3 core, two Cortex-A720 cores, two Cortex-A710 cores, and three Cortex-A510 cores. But the latest buzz around the water cooler, from another reliable Twitter tipster (Ice Universe), calls for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to have different specs.

According to Mr. Universe, instead of the two Cortex-A720 cores, the chip will feature a pair of Cortex-A715 cores. The Cortex-X3 will have a maximum clock speed of 3.2GHz, while the Cortex-A510 will sport a 2GHz clock speed. Both the Cortex-A715 and Cortex-A710 cores will have a clock speed up to 2.8GHz. The GPU will be the Adreno 740. An ultra-high frequency variant of the chip has been rumored to sport a prime core clocked at 3.4-3.5GHz.

As a matter of comparison, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 has a prime core clocked at 3.2GHz while the A16 Bionic, used on Apple's iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone Pro Max, have high-performance cores clocked at 3.46GHz. The San Diego-based company will be hosting the Snapdragon Summit between November 15-17 in Hawaii and during this event we expect Qualcomm to officially introduce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

With Qualcomm believed to be focusing on energy efficiency rather than performance with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the "Ultra-high frequency" version of the chipset would be of interest to manufacturers looking for a chip that will emphasize power over efficiency. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip will supposedly be produced by TSMC using its 4nm process node. This is the chip that is expected to power variants of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series regardless of which market they are sold in.

Traditionally, Samsung uses the latest high-end Snapdragon SoC on the Galaxy S series in markets such as the U.S. and China with the Exynos chips used in all other markets. But back in June, wary of issues with the 5G modem integrated with the Exynos 2300, reliable TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will power all Galaxy S23 phones next year. We will see if he is right sometime in January.