Details about Qualcomm’s next mobile processor have been leaking for a little while, but now the company is getting ready to officially launch its next chip — and a new naming scheme to go with it.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8150 will be unveiled at an event in Hawaii in December 4th.

Update: Despite rumors that the new chip would be called the Snapdragon 8150, it is in fact called the Snapdragon 855 and it’s coming soon to smartphones. 

The news comes via a few messages shared via social media in China, suggesting that the new chip’s launch is imminent… although I suspect we’ll probably have to wait until next year to see it show up in smartphones and other devices.

Early benchmark scores hint at processor that outperforms some of the most powerful chips used in current Android phones, including the Snapdragon 845 and Huawei Kirin 980. But Apple’s mobile chips are still champs — the Apple A11, A12 Bionic, and A12X Bionic all outperform the Snapdragon 8150 according to Geekbench.

That said, the new chip hasn’t actually been released yet, so it’s possible those scores are inaccurate or non-reflective of real-world performance. After all, modern chip design is about more than straight-up CPU speed. Different tasks benefit from different sorts of technologies, which is why we’ve seen chip makers incorporate features such as neural processing units and advanced digital signal processors into their chips in recent years.

Another leaked benchmark hints at a significant boost in performance for artificial intelligence-related tasks.

Meanwhile, according to a Twitter post from Ice Universe, the new chip will be an octa-core processor with three different types of CPU core:

  • 1 x Kryo Gold Prime core with 2.842 GHz top speed, 512KB L2 cache
  • 3 x Kryo Gold cores with 2.419 GHz top speed, 256KB L2 cache per core
  • 4 x Kryo Silver low-power cores with 1.786 GHz top speed, 128KB L2 cache per core

Of course, we don’t really know much about those new “Kryo” cores, which are custom designs based on ARM architecture. But it seems like we’re likely to find out a lot more in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, there’s no word on why Qualcomm is adding a digit to its model numbers… one would have expected the follow-up to the Snapdragon 845 to be the 855. But now that the company is also making processors specifically designed for Windows laptops and tablets (such as the Snapdragon 850), one would think that a new naming scheme might come in handy for helping users quickly tell one product from another.

 

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5 replies on “Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 launching December 4th”

  1. Based on the deep-dive from Anandtech, it’s better to have two High-Clocking cores instead of one Even-Higher-Clocking core.

    This probably means that in very-synthetic benchmarks the Snapdragon is going to produce higher values. But in more productivity-based benchmarks the Kirin 980 is going to perform better.

    Overall total/multi core performance should be identical between the two.

    However, I believe the Snapdragon will have an edge when it comes to the GPU and LTE performance, making it the better product overall. The wild-card seems to be the upcoming Exynos, which could be much much better, or the same, or a disaster. Let’s see in a couple months!

  2. Wow, serious delusions of grandeur going on at Qualcomm. I wonder how much money they are going to piss away before they cancel their Windows products?

    1. There is a Qualcomm 1000 coming which is specific to Windows Products.
      I can see a 1000 range for Laptops and 2 in 1, and a 8100 range for Phones and tablets.
      That’s actually relatively clear and they already have a 2000 range for ARM servers chips.
      I wonder what their Desktop range will be called when they start arriving? 1500 maybe?

      1. Looks like the name of their 1000 is now 8180 and I am totally wrong. Their range is a mess.
        3000 for watches
        8150 for phones
        8180 for laptops
        2000 for servers

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