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Qualcomm recently launched the Snapdragon 888+, a minor upgrade to its latest Snapdragon 888 flagship smartphone SoC. The company is now working on its next major chipset in the Snapdragon 800 series. Recent reports suggest the chipset will be called the Snapdragon 895. Some additional details about the upcoming chipset have now surfaced online.
According to reliable leakster Ice Universe, the Snapdragon 895 will be a 4nm chipset and Samsung will manufacture it. Qualcomm also plans to launch a ‘Plus’ variant of the new SoC, called the Snapdragon 895+, of course. And while it will still be a 4nm solution, the company is reportedly tapping Taiwan’s TSMC for its manufacturing.
Samsung will manufacture Snapdragon 895, while TSMC gets Snapdragon 895+
Details about Qualcomm’s next-gen flagship smartphone SoC have been coming in bits since last month. The chipset is said to bear the part number SM8450 (Snapdragon 888 has part number SM8350). It will reportedly feature the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system, the Adreno 730 GPU, and a Spectra 680 ISP (image signal processor). Now the latest information is that the Snapdragon 895 series will be based on a 4nm process node, with Samsung and TSMC manufacturing the standard and Plus variants, respectively. That’s a notable upgrade just a year after moving from 7nm to 5nm.
It’s unclear though why Qualcomm is sourcing the production to two different manufacturers. The company returned to Samsung for the 5nm Snapdragon 888 series after having the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 855 series (both 7nm) before that manufactured by TSMC.
However, reports suggest that the Korean firm’s 5nm tech isn’t on par with that of TSMC’s. The same is expected to be the case with its 4nm chip technology. There were speculations that Qualcomm would switch back to TSMC for its next-generation Snapdragon 800 series processor. But it is seemingly sticking with Samsung. Perhaps because TSMC isn’t taking orders from Qualcomm for the Snapdragon 895 SoCs due to the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage.
The fact that the Taiwanese company will produce the Snapdragon 895+ chipsets further suggests that. It might not have enough capacity to manufacture 4nm chipsets for Qualcomm this year but could free up some space in the second half of next year.
That said, it’s unclear when Qualcomm plans to announce the Snapdragon 895 processor. It announced the Snapdragon 888 in December last year and followed it with the Snapdragon 888+ last month. However, the ongoing chip shortage means nothing could be said for certain just yet. We will have to wait and see up to what extent this chip shortage problem subsides in the coming months.