Qualcomm's next mobile chipset, tentatively called the Snapdragon 845, could debut on LG G7 and not on the Samsung Galaxy S9. The Korea Herald reports (via Aju Business Daily) that Qualcomm has begun working on its next mobile processor with LG. "The two firms started related development work early this month," claims the report.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 platform is said to be based on the 7nm process and offers 30 percent performance improvement over the existing Snapdragon 835. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chipset made its debut on Samsung Galaxy S8, while LG opted to use the older Snapdragon 821 for its G6 flagship smartphone. At the Mobile World Congress, LG said it is focusing on stability and Snapdragon 821 offers better optimisation compared to latest Snapdragon 835. With the adoption of the Snapdragon 845 for G7, LG seems to be shifting its focus from stability to product innovation. The adoption of Snapdragon 845 is also believed to help the company roll out new virtual and augmented reality features on mobile devices.
The report arrives just on the heels of news that Samsung has begun work on its Galaxy S9 smartphone, which is likely to debut next year. Qualcomm opted to use Samsung's fabrication technology for its Snapdragon 835, there is no word whether it will continue the association with the Snapdragon 845 as well. Samsung also develops its own processors under Exynos brand and might switch to its own processors for future devices considering the fact that company is currently fighting a lawsuit against Qualcomm.