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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chip is set to power the U.S. variants of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, the chipmaker confirmed Sunday, shortly after Samsung officially announced its latest Android flagships. Gigabit LTE and UHD Premium video recording boasted by the newly unveiled devices are directly enabled by the Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm claims. The Galaxy S9 lineup is hence capable of taking advantage of all of the technologies Qualcomm packed into its latest piece of silicon which was produced using Samsung’s second-generation 10nm FinFET process node. On-device artificial intelligence computing fueled by the chip also allows the phablets to run contemporary AI apps without relying on the cloud.
The Adreno 630 GPU featured by the Snapdragon 845 promises to deliver an unprecedented level of mobile graphical fidelity in an energy-efficient manner, whereas the Spectra 280 image signal processor allows the newly announced devices to record UHD Premium content, the latest 4K fidelity standard designed to allow for an entirely new generation of cinematic experiences. The Snapdragon 845 is capable of powering virtual reality apps meant to provide their users with six degrees of freedom, whereas its X20 LTE modem supports Category 18 download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps. Compatibility with 5x carrier aggregation is also part of the package, as is 4×4 MIMO functionality. With the Galaxy S9 lineup powered by the Snapdragon 845 supporting dual-VoLTE solutions, Qualcomm indirectly confirmed that Samsung will be selling dual-SIM variants of its new Android flagships. Video capture on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus is up to 30-percent more efficient, Qualcomm claims, also attributing that achievement to its most powerful system-on-chip to date. In terms of gaming and app launch speeds, the silicon can allow for up to 25-percent better performance.
The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus variants meant to be sold internationally will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 9810 chip. Both that module and Qualcomm’s own offering have been manufactured using the same process node technology and should hence offer comparable performance in terms of raw processing power even if they aren’t identical. Pre-orders for the Galaxy S9-series devices are starting globally on March 2, with the lineup being scheduled to hit the market on March 16.
