New Galaxy S23 leaks reveal that Samsung’s new range will have performance beyond any rival Android smartphone.
A new leak from Roland Quandt, and subsequent marketing images from drbeel_techno, have confirmed the Galaxy S23 range will ship with a special edition of Qualcomm’s fastest chipset, which Samsung will market as the ‘Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy’. It’s a stunning decision because it upsets the relative equality of Android components and will potentially leave rivals behind for years to come.
Moreover, the official images, which add to many Quandt and others have leaked throughout January, confirm earlier reports that Qualcomm was working on an exclusive version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Those reports quoted an overclocked prime CPU core running at 3.36GHz (standard = 3.2GHz) and the Adreno 740 GPU clocked at 719MHz (standard = 680MHz).
While these gains are relatively modest, they will give Samsung the speed crown among Android smartphones, something it can market. But the real story here is Qualcomm giving Samsung an exclusively modified flagship chip. Something it has never done for an individual manufacturer before.
That said, there will be concerns about heat dissipation and power draw. After all, Qualcomm clocks its chipsets at specific frequencies because they are seen as the sweet spot between performance and efficiency. Whether that is compromised for modest gains and bragging rights remains to be seen.
There will also be questions about cost. Price increases of up to €300 ($325) leaked for the Galaxy S23 range in Europe, and a custom chipset in conjunction with a (seemingly overkill) 200MP Galaxy S23 Ultra primary camera are a potentially significant part of this. How will customers react? With Samsung launching the range on February 1, we won’t have to wait long to find out.