So a Galaxy Note 9 just showed up on Geekbench with the Exynos 9820 inside. We know what you're thinking: Why would Samsung be bringing in its next new Exynos chip with the Galaxy Note 9, and how did the company even get the Exynos 9820 ready in time for use in its upcoming flagship? Well, if the Geekbench listing of a Galaxy Note 9 powered by the Exynos 9820 isn't outright fake, Samsung may be testing the chip with existing hardware.
The benchmark details don't match up
Testing of a new SoC with existing hardware is quite normal, and the X in the model number (SM-N960X) means the device tested on Geekbench was a demo device. However, this particular listing of the Note 9 also has only 4GB of RAM and runs Android 8.0 instead of Android 8.1. Most of the details, such as the processor architecture and RAM, match those of the Galaxy S8. But it wouldn't explain the scores achieved by this particular Note 9, which are higher than anything you would find for even the Galaxy S9 or S9+ running on an Exynos 9810.
The difference between the highest scores for the S9 family and those of the Note 9 in question isn't that much, but they do lend the listing some credence. However, at this point in time, it's hard to say what's true and what isn't. The Exynos 9820 is expected to have some performance gains owing to the 7nm process it will be manufactured on, but how much of a lead it has over the Exynos 9810 will only be confirmed next year when the Galaxy S10 is unveiled.
