The successor to Snapdragon 888 may include Leica technology

The successor to Snapdragon 888 may include Leica technology

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Qualcomm seems to be getting ready to release a toned down version of the Snapdragon 888 (SM8350) chip. The news comes from Roland Quandt, who says that unlike the flagship Snapdragon 888, the stripped down variant is not an integrated 5G modem.

The new chip (SM8325) will apparently power the flagship phones of the budget and it is not clear how it will fare from the Snapdragon 870. Since it is considered as a version of the Snapdragon 888 with a lower specification, it will probably be based on the 5nm process. The SoC is perhaps intended for emerging markets where 5G networks have not yet been introduced.

SM8450

Quandt also learned that Qualcomm started early samples of the will Snapdragon 888 successor. The chip is apparently known internally as ‘Waipio’ and its model number is SM8450. It is likely to be launched by the end of 2021, as is the norm.

The company is currently testing samples that are compatible with 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB storage. The camera capabilities of the next-generation chip are also expected to get a big boost and it looks like Qualcomm has teamed up with optics specialist Leica for the purpose. Current testing is apparently centered on a module internally known as ‘Leica1’.

The Snapdragon 888 was made by Samsung and the recently announced 5G modems (Snapdragon X62 and Snapdragon X65) are based on the 4nm process of the chaebol. It is not known if the successor to Snapdragon 888 will also be built on a new process node.

A A recent report says that Qualcomm will stick with Samsung’s 5nm technology this year and return to TSMC in 2022 for a 4nm flagship SoC.

SM7325

Quandt also revealed the existence of a mid-level chip. The SM7325 apparently has one core running at 2.7 GHz, three cores with a clock speed of 2.4 GHz and four cores with frequencies up to 1.8 GHz. The test platform supports up to 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. The final product can support up to 16 GB of RAM.
A 5nm upper center distance disc is called Reportedly, Snapdragon 775 (SM7350) is also in the offing.

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