The more-efficient Snapdragon 810 v2.1 is already shipping aboard the HTC One M9

OnePlus came out not long ago to say that the upcoming OnePlus 2 will sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. This obviously caused a bit of concern in the community considering the system-on-a-chip’s mixed history with heat problems, but the company reassured us that it was going with some kind of updated “version 2.1” of the chip that didn’t have as many problems — and they said they were optimizing it themselves, too.

The company touted this as some kind of selling point for the device over the year’s other Snapdragon 810 handsets, most notably the HTC One M9 and the LG G Flex 2. AnandTech even tested the v2.1 chip to make sure that the company’s claims were legitimate, and it turned out they were. But what the company didn’t say was that v2.1 is already (today!) being built into other handsets. And that includes the HTC One M9…

According to Jeff Gordon, HTC’s Senior Global Online Communications Manager and source of much unofficial commentary from the Taiwanese company, Qualcomm says that the 2.1 version of the chip is already being shipped on most — if not all — handsets that at one point included the version 2.0 Snapdragon 810. He specifically mentioned the One M9, but assumably other handsets have moved over as well.

OnePlus didn’t outright say that its phone was the only one sporting the new 2.1 version, but it did seem to loosely suggest that it was something that the company built in collaboration with Qualcomm:

Although there have been reports that the 810 runs warmer than its predecessors, we assure you that we have taken all the necessary precautions and beyond to prevent this from occurring in the 2. We worked very closely with Qualcomm’s engineers to integrate an improved version of the chipset (v2.1) in the OnePlus 2, and fine-tuned both hardware and software. The 2 will be “cooler than ever”.

While OnePlus has said many times that it doesn’t really have any marketing budget and has to do whatever it can to get attention, many have criticized the company’s techniques as being annoying, obnoxious, and manipulative. I personally don’t find harm in a company announcing the specs of its phone one at a time — if they all get press coverage, then clearly the fans care about the device enough to know.

But, like Gordon, I definitely find it interesting that some OEMs, namely OnePlus, are trying to push this v2.1 of the chip as a selling point. While the chip is undoubtedly improved, it’s definitely not a reason to pick the OnePlus 2 over the HTC One M9. There are, surely, countless other reasons to go with OnePlus’ offering, however. But we won’t really be sure about those until the OnePlus 2 is officially unveiled later this month.

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