The Samsung Galaxy S23 series is finally here, and one of the most exciting aspects of this series is that it will pack Qualcomm chipsets in all versions of the phone worldwide. However, there is a twist. It’s not just Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, it’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. It doesn’t say much, but we were able to piece together most of the picture from the spec sheets Samsung shared with us.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy features an increased base clock speed from 3.2GHz to 3.36GHz and an increased GPU clock speed from 680MHz to 719MHz. In essence, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is what the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 might look like. While last year’s Plus variant was an exception in how much it increased over its predecessor, by and large, the “incremental” improvements are subtle. This time. A small increase in clock is usually par for the course, and that’s exactly what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is.
For reference, the main difference between Snapdragon 888 vs. Snapdragon 888+ was mainly that the Plus variant has a higher clock speed of 155MHz. There were other small improvements, but overall, the 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is basically just the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2.
Will the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy device be significantly faster?
Realistically, no. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy shouldn’t be noticeably faster, although it could score slightly higher in benchmarks.
With such a slight increase in peak performance, Samsung is likely to limit the performance of the chipset. Smartphones are doing their best Not To reach the highest possible clock speeds because power consumption during frequency increases is exponential. Higher frequency means greater power consumption, which means OEMs are always trying to find the balance between performance and battery life.
There is not likely to be anything special about this chipset besides being top notch. It’s probably the highest performing Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, but it’s just been packaged and rebranded as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy because it can be more stable while maintaining a higher clock speed than the rest of the pack.
Semantic segmentation and DSP improvements
Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for the Galaxy also has a few other changes, though those tangible changes will still be visible. For starters, it appears to be the world’s first smartphone to use Snapdragon’s Cognitive ISP to enable real-time semantic segmentation to improve images. Semantic segmentation is where the deep learning model attempts to recognize objects in the image to understand what is happening, which can aid in processing.
Moreover, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy appears to have an upgraded Snapdragon Hexagon processor for better AI performance.
What happens to Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2?
This is where things get complicated, as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is essentially what the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 would have been. Qualcomm Always It releases the Plus variant (and has been doing it for years), but I can see one of three things happening.
- Qualcomm is skipping 8+ Gen 2 completely
- 8+ Gen 2 is released, which is similar to 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
- The 8+ Gen 2 is better than the 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
I’m not sure which direction the company is going, but the release of this particular chipset means it’s in an odd place with a mid-cycle update that usually shows up in the middle of the year. We’ll have to wait and see what Qualcomm does.
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Samsung Galaxy S23
The regular Galaxy S23 is a great option if you’re in the market for a smaller smartphone, with a 6.1-inch screen. But despite the size, it doesn’t lack any features that the larger S23+ has. It has a 120Hz AMOLED display, 50MP camera, and more.
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Samsung Galaxy S23+
The Samsung Galaxy S23+ is slightly larger than the regular model. This means that the screen is bigger and the battery is bigger too. It comes with the same 50MP camera sensor as the S23, and it comes in the same four colors.
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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is one of the best phones on the market, with an all-new 200MP sensor, improved design, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 custom Galaxy chipset, and One UI 5.1.
