Is Qualcomm Buddying Up With Samsung For Snapdragon 820?

Samsung could be set to strengthen its grip on the mobile market even further amid reports that Qualcomm is planning to manufacture its next-generation Snapdragon 820 processor at the Korean manufacturer’s chip-making plants.

The use of Samsung’s foundry operations would allow Qualcomm to begin production of super-thin 14nm chips, a significant step forward from the current 20nm Snapdragon processors, according to Re/code.

All change?

Traditionally, Qualcomm has used Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or other contract manufacturers to build its chips, which are used in the majority of leading Android and Windows Phone mobile devices around the world.

However the lure of 14nm building may be enough to persuade the company to switch suppliers, with Qualcomm hoping that the move to use Samsung’s factories will help it win back business for the next Galaxy S flagship.

A partnership with Samsung would help Qualcomm get back in the good books of the world’s largest Android phone manufacturer, especially as the company’s latest flagship device, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, were powered by a Samsung-made Exynos chip rather than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810.

Qualcomm today cut its revenue and profits forecast for both the current quarter and financial year ahead, suggesting profits of 85 cents-$1 per share and revenue of $5.4bn-$6.2 billion (£3.6 – £4.1bn) for the third quarter.

Power up

Little is known yet about the Snapdragon 820, which should be the brains behind many of 2016’s top smartphones and tablets. The company revealed in January that the new chip would begin sampling later this year, and will have its own built-in LTE modem as well as a custom-designed Qualcomm processor and graphics core.

Qualcomm’s current flagship processor, the Snapdragon 810, was first announced in April 2014,and will soon begin appearing in top-end mobile devices.

These include the HTC One M9, LG G Flex 2, and Sony Xperia Z4 tablet (pictured above), all of which feature the 64-bit octa-core processor, which is capable of clocking speeds of up to 2.5Ghz, as well as support for LTE Cat 9 networks, which offer download speeds of up to 450Mbps.

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