Qualcomm announced the most bonkers Snapdragon chip for flagship Android smartphones today. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a giant leap in everything from gaming to AI performance thanks to Qualcomm’s custom Oryon cores, and the new chip is considerably more efficient as well.
Qualcomm confirmed that Samsung will be among the manufacturers who will launch devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in the coming months. But what Qualcomm didn’t say out loud was more or less confirmed by the presence of TM Roh, president and head of Samsung’s mobile division, at the Snapdragon Summit event in Hawaii today.
TM Roh said nothing, but his presence spoke volumes
Despite confirming Samsung as one of the partners that will launching Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered devices in the “coming weeks,” Qualcomm refused to offer any more details, including whether the Snapdragon 8 Elite will have a faster version exclusive to Samsung Galaxy flagships, just like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 8 Gen 3 “for Galaxy” chips in 2023 and 2024.
Roh didn’t have much to say, including nothing about the Snapdragon 8 Elite being used in at least one of the Galaxy S25 models next year. The only interesting information he had to share was that Qualcomm is playing an integral part in Samsung’s goals to make Galaxy AI accessible to as many users as possible and that Galaxy AI will be available on 200 million devices by the end of this year, a claim that the company already made back in July.
Samsung is without a doubt one of the largest mobile OEM partners for Qualcomm, given that it's one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in the world. Qualcomm has highlighted many of its close partnerships during this year's Snapdragon Summit so it was only logical for Samsung to be featured.
However, for the head of Samsung's mobile division to make an appearance on stage, even as other partners like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent video messages, signifies in clear terms how important Qualcomm and Snapdragon has become for the company, as Samsung's reliance on high-end Snapdragon chipsets has increased for its flagship Galaxy S Ultra and the Galaxy Z foldable phones series in the absence of a similarly capable Exynos chipset.
Disclaimer: Qualcomm is hosting a large group of international media for the Snapdragon Summit 2024 from October 21-23 in Hawaii, including SamMobile. All opinions and analyses remain our own with Qualcomm receiving no advance preview or exercising any control over our coverage.
