TL;DR
- A leak suggests Qualcomm’s high-end 2022 phone chip might be named Snapdragon 898.
- It would also run at a very high 3.09GHz and might use an Arm Cortex-X2 primary core.
- There’s no mention of how Qualcomm would improve the architecture.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 Plus is just weeks old, but that isn’t stopping rumors about its potential follow-up. Well-established (if not always accurate) leaker Ice Universe claims the company’s 2022 flagship mobile chip will be called the Snapdragon 898 — and should have at least one clear advantage over the 888 family.
The Snapdragon 898 name by itself doesn’t say much. However, Ice Universe added that the system-on-chip will reportedly run at 3.09GHz, possibly using an Arm Cortex-X2 primary core. That’s a conspicuous step up from the 3GHz 888 Plus, let alone the 2.84GHz of the original 888, and doesn’t factor in the performance improvements that come with the X2 design.
It’s not certain what else the new part would offer. However, it won’t be surprising if the Snapdragon 898 ships with other Armv9 cores, including the Cortex-A710 for typical high-demand tasks and the “little” Cortex-A510 for low-power uses. It’s also reasonable to expect updated Adreno graphics and Qualcomm’s other usual customizations, such as its Hexagon digital signal processor.
There’s also no mention of a release date for the Snapdragon 898 or the first devices to use it. If history is any indication, though, Qualcomm could introduce the 898 late this year. You’d have to wait until early next year to see major devices that might use it, such as the expected Galaxy S22, but it might just be a matter of weeks rather than months.
