Samsung mass producing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820

Samsung mass producing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820
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Surprise surprise! Right? The Snapdragon 820 will be produced using Samsung's 14nm LPP process.

Guess who is making Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 SoC? Samsung has struck a deal with Qualcomm, to produce the Snapdragon 820 chips using its 14nm LPP process. The processor is supposed to be used in multiple flagship devices, with the LeTV Le Max Pro being the first in line. There are also multiple other phones that are rumoured to be opting for the SoC. Samsung’s work with its 14nm process on its own Exynos 7 SoC is perhaps the reason why Qualcomm has struck a deal with its rival. The Exynos 7 SoC, running on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 and the Edge devices, is without a doubt the most powerful amongst last year’s processors.

Qualcomm had a tough year in 2015, following massive heating issues in its Snapdragon 810 SoC. In fact, Samsung itself had opted to not use the SoC, going instead with its own Exynos 7 for its flagship devices. Phones like the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus tanked because of the SD810’s heating issues, hurting Qualcomm’s reputation for providing best-in-class SoCs in the Android smartphone market.

Meanwhile, Samsung has been striking deals for its SoCs for a while now. Companies like Meizu are using its processors in their upcoming devices, while Samsung has been a long term partner for Apple, making the chips for its iPhones and iPads. Qualcomm on the other hand, has been partnering with TSMC for its chips, but Samsung’s 14nm process gave the South-Korean company an edge over the Taiwanese mainstay. It allows Samsung to create chips that are cheaper and consume less power.

However, while Samsung has announced that it is producing the Snapdragon 820, the SoC to be used in its Galaxy S7 flagship is very much in question still. Samsung may again go with its own Exynos processors, or there may be two variants of the device.

Digit NewsDesk

Digit NewsDesk

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