Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ‘for Galaxy’ allegedly adds even more raw power

Ben Schoon | Nov 6 2023 - 9:58 am PT

Following in the footsteps of last year’s specialized Samsung-only chip, the alleged upcoming “Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy” is preparing a version of Qualcomm’s new flagship with a lot more raw power.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is, on its own, already a pretty impressive offering. The 1+5+2 core layout, updated Cortex-X4, and continued use of TSMC’s 4nm process led to a chip that rivals and even beats Apple’s 3nm A17 Pro. It already has plenty of raw power, but the special edition for Samsung devices will reportedly have even more.

Leaker Yogesh Brar claims that Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy will boost the main Cortex-X4 CPU to 3.4GHz, up from 3.3GHz. That should, in theory, deliver a bit more power for the heaviest tasks. When that main CPU isn’t in use, though, Samsung’s apparent choice to drop the clock speed of the A720 and A520 cores slightly should lead to at least somewhat better efficiency in terms of power consumption.

The five A720 cores would run between 3.15GHz and 2.96GHz, whereas they run between 3.2GHz and 3GHz in the normal version. The A520 cores would also drop to 2.27GHz versus 2.3GHz.

Meanwhile, Ice Universe says that the GPU is where the changes really lie, with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy offering a 1GHz GPU. For context, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s GPU ran at 680MHz, which was an even lower clock speed than its predecessors. Apparently, the added GPU horsepower will be used for AI, which Samsung is said to be heavily leaning on.

Notably, though, Qualcomm hasn’t actually confirmed the GPU clock speed of the standard configuration of its new chip, so it’s unclear if this is a Samsung-only upgrade.

Of course, there are two questions remaining – for one, where the chip will be used, seeing as rumors are flying that Samsung will go back to partially using Exynos chips. The other question regards how it will compare to the MediaTek Dimensity 9300, which was launched today with a radical core layout that has four Cortex-X4 CPU cores compared to Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s single powerful core.

“Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy” is expected to debut in the Galaxy S24 series next year.