The confirmation many Samsung fans had been looking forward to may have come today. It seems Samsung will truly go all in on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for the Galaxy S23 series, with the European variant showing up in a benchmark with the Snapdragon chip inside it instead of the Exynos 2300, which is still in the works even though it doesn't look like it will be used in the Galaxy S23 lineup.
And if the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor that powers the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is anything to go by, the Snapdragon exclusivity for the Galaxy S23 could be its best feature. As announced by Qualcomm today, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be made by TSMC's 4nm process, the same one used by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and Samsung will not be involved in any part of the manufacturing process.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 has shown excellent performance and excellent power efficiency on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, and unless Qualcomm messes something up, the same should be true for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. In particular, we're hoping the power efficiency has actually been upgraded or at least remains the same, because that would make for an excellent user experience on the Galaxy S23 series combined with One UI 5 (5.1, to be exact).
The fact that Samsung isn't going to be the one manufacturing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should be the best thing about it. 2021's Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 888+ and 2022's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 were all manufactured by Samsung, and none of them could match the efficiency of the TSMC-made Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is a good sign TSMC did a better job even though it uses a 4nm manufacturing processes similar to Samsung (though the exact technical details of the processes are a little different).
The Galaxy S23 Ultra with its 5,000 mAh battery should especially benefit from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. A 5,000 mAh battery is the biggest we've ever seen on a Galaxy flagship, but this could be the first time it truly gets to shine since the Galaxy S20 series that launched in 2020.
But, as mentioned above, if Samsung really does decide to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for the Galaxy S23 series in every market, it could be the most attractive feature for all three models. And I can't wait to test any of the Galaxy S23 smartphones whenever they launch next year. If all goes well, I might finally ditch my Galaxy S20 Ultra and upgrade to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, although I'm going to remain a little skeptical until Samsung's next flagship is actually launched.
