The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 might still be new, but Qualcomm is already hard at work on the successor. While we're still a ways out from the reveal, a new leak claims to have the key information that we need.
Of course, as with any leak, especially from random people on Twitter who don't cite their sources, take this one with a hefty grain of salt. The leak seems plausible, but we're still rather skeptical. We're even more suspicious given the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 leak from a few days ago.
Coming from user @Tech_Reve on Twitter, we have an alleged graphic comparing the so-called Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to its predecessors, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (not the Plus variant).
According to the graphic, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will come in a 1+5+2 core configuration, making for eight total. The primary powerhouse will be a single Cortex-X4 clocked, strangely, at 3.2GHz. Yes, that's lower than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy's 3.36GHz Cortex-X3, or the same as the regular 8 Gen 2's primary core.
Five Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 3GHz will apparently handle the efficiency tasks, while dual Cortex-A520 cores will cover the rest of the base level stuff. An X75 5G modem will also sit onboard the chipset, as well as an Adreno 750 GPU.
Snapdragon 8gen3 rumorsTSMC N4P 1 + 5 + 2 architecture, a Cortex-X4 mega-core 3.75GHzfive Cortex-A720 large core 3.0GHz two Cortex-A520 small core 2.0GHz than Snapdragon 8gen2 more than one performance core, less than the energy efficiency core. The GPU is Adreno750. pic.twitter.com/MTGOtnL46EMarch 9, 2023
All of that sounds well and good, but we're a bit suspicious because the graphic also mentions that Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will allegedly support UFS 4.1, an as-yet-unannounced storage spec. We have no idea what storage speeds to expect from UFS 4.1, but considering the leap from UFS 3.1 to UFS 4, we're pretty hopeful.
Could the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 arrive sooner?
If this leak is legitimate, then it could make sense given the rumors that Qualcomm will release the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 earlier in the year to combat Apple's A17 Bionic, expected to debut in the iPhone 15 Pro. In fact, we might see Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones in the last quarter of this year. Then there's the Galaxy S24 early next year.
Considering that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (especially the Galaxy variant) stands up pretty well against the A16 Bionic, outright beating it in graphics benchmarks, it would make sense for Qualcomm to want to show off what it's got to contend with Apple. Just so long as we don't get another Snapdragon 810 problem.
However the chip ends up performing, we're sure to see the best Android phones in 2024 come close to matching Apple in terms of raw performance.
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