While we may have just started seeing smartphones launch with Qualcomm’s top-tier mobile platform Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, rumours about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 have already begun to pour in. According to a famed tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo, spotted by the Chinese publication ITHome, Qualcomm’s next flagship chipset may be unveiled earlier than usual. In fact, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 may be unveiled at the end of October. Qualcomm usually launches its flagship chipsets at an event in Hawaii sometime in December.
According to a report by Android Authority, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip may come with a new configuration and the chipset is said to have the codename “Lanai”. The internal model number of the chip is SM8650, and it is likely to have a 1+5+2 core configuration. The recently launched Samsung’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy customised SoC uses a 1+4+3 configuration.
To recall, the US chip-making giant introduced its latest premium mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, at the Snapdragon Summit 2022 in November last year. The top-tier processor has been adopted by global smartphone players, including OnePlus and Oppo and Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S23 line with Qualcomm’s custom processor called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy. The SoC is an overclocked version of the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which is usually the case with the Plus variant of the chipset.
Meanwhile, San Diego, California-based Qualcomm is likely to source the manufacturing of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips to TSMC and Samsung. TSMC is likely to get the majority of chipset orders built on the 3-nm process because of the incredibly high 80 per cent yield rate, said a previous report by GSMArena.
The current yield rate from a 3-nm GAA wafer is about 60-70 per cent. However, Taiwan’s TSMC is managing to implement between 75-80 per cent of a single wafer. If this data is to be believed, tech giant Apple and Qualcomm will not have shipment issues for their next-gen chipsets, the A17 Bionic and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, respectively.