Smartphone and chipmaker Samsung revealed that it has begun mass production of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 mobile processor, which the company said it expects will be available in new devices released in the first half of 2016.
According to Samsung, the Snapdragon 820 will be manufactured using the same 14 nanometer Low-Power Plus (LPP) process that is used to make the Exynos 8 Octa chip.
The technique is the second generation of Samsung’s 14nm FinFET process technology, and allows for “15 percent higher speed and 15 percent less power consumption over the previous 14nm LPE process through improvements in transistor structure and process optimization,” the company said.
“We are pleased to start production of our industry-leading, 2nd generation 14nm FinFET process technology that delivers the highest level of performance and power efficiency” Samsung Electronics’ Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Charlie Bae said.
The announcement has rekindled rumors that Samsung may use the Qualcomm chip in its forthcoming flagship Galaxy smartphones, despite the company’s November unveiling of its own new premium Exynos 8 Octa processor.
Hailed by Samsung for its ability to achieve 30 percent more performance with 10 percent more power efficiency, the Exynos 8 Octa is seen as a competitor to the new Snapdragon chip. Whether or not Samsung chooses to use the Exynos 8 Octa or the Snapdragon 820 is a toss up, as the company has used both Qualcomm chips and processors from its own lineup in Galaxy S-line devices in the past.
Speculators likely won’t have long to wait, however, as the Galaxy S7 is expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress next month.
