Samsung could launch the Plus version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset as early as May, with the first devices based on it arriving a month later.
The “refresh” version of Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile phone chipset is delivered exclusively by TSMC, using an optimized version of the 4nm manufacturing node. The British manufacturer has decided, together with other valuable customers, to give up the services of the Samsung Foundry supplier after it was revealed that the efficiency and efficiency of its 4nm manufacturing technology is far below the promised level. Specifically, industry sources have revealed that the success rate of Samsung’s 4nm node is at a disappointing level, with only 35% of the chips extracted from the silicon disks operating at parameters good enough to be delivered to customers. . In practice, the situation could be even worse than that, with suspicions that even the chips declared viable would not be at the desired efficiency parameters. According to rumors, not all Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips have equal performance, Qualcomm delivering more efficient chips, or hotter, depending on the “relationships” with that smartphone brand.
For comparison, the success rate achieved by TSMC for its version of the 4 nm manufacturing node is considered to be 70%, twice that of Samsung. Thus, it is plausible that TSMC can more easily accommodate the huge volume of orders for 4nm chipsets, keeping enough margin for the selection of chips that can function at even higher frequencies, then delivered with the “Plus” label.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, codenamed SM8475, probably comes with the same features as the current version, the performance by a few percent higher being achieved exclusively by optimizing power consumption and increasing operating frequencies.