Rumors have suggested that next year's Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup is going to more fully embrace Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset at the expense of Samsung's own Exynos chip. And now we have another indicator that Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S phones will appear beyond the U.S.
According to smartphone leaker Ice Universe, the rumored Samsung Galaxy S23 series is now “confirmed” to get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the chipset announced by the chip maker this week.
Ice Universe is basing that claim on leaked Geekbench 5 benchmark testing that shows model “Samsung SM-S918B,” rumored to be a European-market Galaxy S23 device. The testing results were a 1,504 single-core score and a 4,580 multi-core score, both of which are in line with other leaked benchmarks of other rumored S23 devices.
Breaking！The best moment for European users has arrived.The European version of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series is confirmed to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen2, and it is a high-frequency version exclusive to Samsung. Please enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/w6DqCdH30bNovember 16, 2022
This is great news for European and U.K. customers, who now look set to get the latest Qualcomm silicon in their versions of the Galaxy S23. Previous versions of Samsung's flagship phone released in Europe had been powered by Samsung Exynos chips, which traditionally lag behind their Snapdragon equivalents.
We've already heard rumors that Qualcomm was going to be the global chipset provider for the S23 phones. Now it seems that not only will Samsung's upcoming flagship phones get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but they will receive a high-frequency version exclusive to Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup: Benchmark roundup
So far we’ve seen a fair amount of leaked benchmarks for rumored Samsung Galaxy S23 phones. It’s partially why this new rumor of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-based Galaxy S23 headed to Europe checks out — it lines up with the current benchmarks.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Geekbench 5 Single-Core Score | Geekbench 5 Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Galaxy S23 (SM-S911U) | 1,524 | 4,597 |
| Galaxy S23 Plus (SM-S916U) | 1,485 | 4,844 |
| Galaxy S23 Ultra (SM-S918U) | 1,521 | 4,689 |
| Galaxy S23 Europe (SM-S918B) | 1,504 | 4,508 |
Early results for these Snapdragon-powered Android phones have been pretty good. The leaked Galaxy S23 benchmarks (rumored model SM-S911U) had a Geekbench 5 score of 1,524 for single-core performance and 4,597 for multi-core performance. This was similar to the leaked Galaxy S23 Plus benchmarks (rumored model SM-S916U), which scored 1,485 and 4,844 for single-core and multi-core respectively and the leaked S23 Ultra benchmarks (SM-S918U) which scored 1,521 and 4,689 for single-core and multi-core.
Given that this rumored Galaxy S23 European market phone (rumored model SM-S918B) scored 1,504 and 4,580 for single-core and multi-core performance, it does seem likely that whatever chipset these S23 phones are using, it's the same one showing up in other leaked models.
There’s an established range now of 1,485 to 1,524 for single-core performance and 4,580 to 4,844 for multi-core performance. So anything we see come out with similar numbers should add weight to the theory that it's the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering all these devices.
Unfortunately, it also potentially confirms that this next generation of Samsung phones will fall short of the iPhone's performance — though the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 numbers appear to be inching closer. In fact, the rumored multi-core performance for the S23 lineup beats the base iPhone 14 powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic chip. But both the single-core and multi-core numbers fall well short of the Geekbench 5 scores for the A16 Bionic in the iPhone 14 Pro. That $999 Apple phone scored 1,891 and 5,469 for single-core and multi-core respectively, well ahead of the range we are seeing for the leaked Galaxy S23 benchmarks.
As always, the leaked benchmarks aren't official numbers, and we won't fully know how phones powered by the new chipset will perform until we get the chance to test the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 ourselves. At this point, though, it looks like if you want the best performance from your mobile processor you’ll need to get an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max — luckily there are some decent iPhone 14 Pro Max deals. Otherwise, stay tuned for all the latest rumors and leaks for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which will almost certainly be the most powerful Android phone when it comes out next year.
Next: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 — 5 killer camera features coming to your next Android phone.
