Samsung‘s new Galaxy S23 series has just been announced, and they come with a special chipset called the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy”. As a result of the unsatisfactory performance of Samsung’s flagship Exynos chipsets in the past, the Galaxy S23 series will not be available in Exynos and Snapdragon variants as has been the tradition in the past. Instead, all regions where the phones will be sold will receive Snapdragon-powered models.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset Qualcomm announced in November 2022. According to Qualcomm, the chipset has been customized for Samsung and “features accelerated performance” which makes it the “fastest Snapdragon ever”. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy will power all models of the Galaxy S23 in all regions of the world.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy has the same number of CPU cores as the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 seen in phones like the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro. However, its prime core is clocked higher at 3.36GHz, while the standard version has its prime core clocked at 3.2GHz. Qualcomm says the Adreno GPU has also received a significant improvement in performance and power efficiency compared to the standard chip.
The Galaxy S23 series should also take better selfie photos than rival Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered phones as Qualcomm says it is the world’s first smartphone to use Snapdragon’s Cognitive ISP for real-time semantic segmentation, which enhances images from the selfie camera. The chip also allows for ultra-low-light video recording and multi-frame noise reduction. AI performance has also received an upgrade with Qualcomm’s fastest and most advanced AI Engine thanks to an upgraded Hexagon Processor. In addition, the Galaxy S23 series also features an in-display Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 for biometric authentication.
Save for these differences, the rest of the features are the same. There is a Snapdragon X70 5G modem, Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth system, and a Game for Post Processing Accelerator that adds effects such as motion blur, depth of field, and bloom.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is not expected to be a one-time partnership between Qualcomm and Samsung. There are unconfirmed reports that it will extend to next year’s Galaxy S24 series and beyond, and Qualcomm has processors for laptops as well. So there is a chance Samsung Galaxy flagships released between now and then, including the upcoming Galaxy Z series, will be powered by a special version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon premium chipsets.
Source: Qualcomm
