Currently, the Snapdragon 845 is Qualcomm’s most powerful chip, but it’s been almost a year since we’ve had it available, and it’s time to meet its successor. According to the current nomenclature, it should probably be called Snapdragon 855, but all the rumours and leaks so far speak of a name change and this new high-end chipset would be the Snapdragon 8150.
Qualcomm’s next SoC processor which is based on a new 7nm manufacturing process will be launched in 2019 and a lot of information is going to be published on the network. Until now, information on this subject is limited, but one thing still appears: the name SM8150, suggesting that the company is trying to change the nomenclature of its next chips.
According to XDA Developers, the name ‘Snap8150’ appears in an Android 9 Pie software file for the Samsung Galaxy S9. A reference where not only the name of this future processor but also the codename of the flexible mobile phone appears. This suggests that such a device would introduce the Snapdragon 8150.
This is the first time a direct reference has been made to the name Snapdragon 8150, which WinFuture had named months earlier as the successor to Snapdragon 845.
To confirm the name, the Qualcomm 8150 name was recently certified in the Bluetooth certificate process, confirming compatibility with Bluetooth 5.0 and displaying this number again. One where the surname ‘Snapdragon’ does not appear, but it is a detail that could have been omitted.
The certification page shows that the Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac chipset supports 2×2 MIMO and Bluetooth 5.0 ‘Low Energy’. However, the “Design Name” on the certification page appears as WCN3998-0, which refers to Qualcomm’s latest wireless chip. Smartphone manufacturers can pair the hypothetical Snapdragon 8150 with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem, which is also manufactured on a 7nm process node. Many smartphone manufacturers are expected to launch their first 5G-enabled devices next year. We can expect all of them to operate with this SM8150 chip.
This Snapdragon 8150 would be manufactured in 7 nanometers, just like the new Apple A12 Bionic and Kirin 980 from Huawei. This leap to seven nanometers will provide better performance while improving efficiency. The percentage of improvement is still unknown, but an increase of at least 30% is expected.
In addition to improving speed and efficiency, this new processor would be the first Snapdragon to feature a dedicated neural processing unit. That is, the Snapdragon 8150 would have a special NPU for functions of artificial intelligence. We do not know to what extent it will compete with the current, but the fact of adding this unit could justify changing the nomenclature to differentiate it.