Latest rumor says that the Snapdragon 898 SoC will not ship (but it's all good anyway)
Starting on November 30, days after all of the turkey has been consumed, football watched, and naps taken, Qualcomm will make an announcement during the 2021 Snapdragon Tech Summit that could result in a change to the expected Snapdragon 898 chipset expected to power top-shelf Android handsets next year. Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station says that the sequel to the Snapdragon 888 SoC will be named the Snapdragon 8 Gen1.
Qualcomm might not release the Snapdragon 898; instead, the chip might be named the Snapdragon 8 Gen1
WCCFtech says that changing the name of the upcoming high-end Snapdragon chipset is important because 888 sounds too similar to 898. Additionally, Qualcomm is expected to deliver some big improvements to the integrated circuit. Twitter tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce) tweeted a few days ago about the yet to be announced chip noting that it will feature improvements in graphics, artificial intelligence, and image processing.
Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station says that the Snapdragon 898 chipset might go by another name
The tipster said that the only worry was the heat generated by the CPU, which will use a triple cluster configuration as follows:
- One Kryo 780 core, probably based on the Cortex-X2, running at a clock speed of 3.09GHz.
- Three Kryo 780 cores, most likely based on the Cortex-A710, running at a clock speed of 2.4GHz.
- Four Kryo 780 cores, likely to be based on the Cortex-A510, running at a clock speed of 1.8GHz.
The Kryo 780 cores are based on ARM's new architecture and should be built using Samsung's 4nm process node. The Adreno 730 GPU will also have a new architecture improving graphics on Android handsets.
But the concern over the CPU overheating is real and if it comes down to throttling performance in order to cut back on the heat generated, the optics will look pretty bad for Qualcomm and Android phone manufacturers.
The heating issues revolving around the CPU belonging to the next high-end Snapdragon AP, and the possible thermal throttling, could give Samsung an opportunity to punch up the CPU on the Exynos 2200 for competitive reasons. And don't forget the AMD GPU that will allow the chip to deliver ray tracing which means that the chip will help devices render the "physical characteristics" of light.
Earlier this year, there was speculation that Verizon was asking Samsung if it could offer the Exynos 2200 powered variant of the Galaxy S22 series instead of the Snapdragon 898/Snapdragon 8 Gen1. A couple of years ago, Samsung was so disappointed in the Exynos 990 that even in Korea it shipped the Galaxy S20 with the Snapdragon 865 chip inside. That left many in Samsung's Korea-based chip division feeling humiliated.
The Exynos 2200 includes an AMD GPU based on its RDNA architecture
But now, the tables have turned. And with the GPU in the Exynos 2200 GPU based on AMD's RDNA 2 architecture, this year Sammy's Korean chip division should feel no shame or humiliation. Previous benchmark tests confirm that the new chip's peak GPU performance leaves the Exynos 2100 huffing and puffing and trying to catch its breath.
There are so many things to consider when it comes to the chip industry in 2022. Among them, will the chip shortage end? This is a real thing that has forced Apple to reportedly cut the production of iPad models by 50% so that it can save chips for the iPhone. For example, the new iPad mini 6 is powered by the same A15 Bionic chip that you'll find under the hood of the 2021 iPhone 13 series.
And there is the question of whether TSMC will be able to start volume production of its 3nm process node during the second half of next year. That is the latest time frame that we've heard although TSMC did say back in August that the complexity of 3nm was forcing it to delay using the process node. So the big question is whether Apple's A16 Bionic chipset will be manufactured using the foundry's enhanced 5nm node, 4nm node, or 3nm node.
Stay tuned.
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