The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could be finalized by this April

Rumors surrounding the next most powerful chip from Qualcomm have been surfacing, and they’re painting a picture of a pretty powerful processor. While we are still waiting on official information, we’ve gotten some rumors letting us know that this processor is well into production. According to a report, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could be finalized by April.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is still relatively new, having only launched on a handful of devices so far this year. Some of the devices include the Galaxy S24 series. These are the newest and most powerful Galaxy phones on the market, and they offer some amazing AI functionality. At Android Headlines, we have a review of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and a review of the Galaxy S24+.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon could be finalized this April

As always, we are dealing with leaked information. As such, you’ll want to take this news cautiously. We’re still waiting on official information, so anything could change between now and the official unveiling.

According to reports, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could possibly be finalized by this April. This will give Qualcomm enough time to start sending samples out to OEMs to test for their upcoming devices.

However, this doesn’t mean that Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 devices will be coming out starting in April. It means that it’s finished enough to the point where companies can begin the process of testing them in their upcoming devices. If the rumors remain true, Qualcomm won’t announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 until October this year. After that, devices won’t start using this chip until next year. So, we most likely won’t be seeing Snapdragon 8 Gen 4-powered devices until early 2025.

Rumored specs

We’re still in the dark on most of this chip’s specs. Recent reports stated that Qualcomm is planning on doing something rather risky. It’s reminiscent of something that MediaTek got flack for. Rumors state that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will only use high-powered cores. This means that it could forgo using lower-powered efficiency cores.

Historically, SoC makers would use a combination of more powerful high-power cores and less powerful efficiency cores. The efficiency cores draw less power than the high-power cores. This is a method that leads to better battery life on phones. So, if the company gets rid of these efficiency cores, then battery life could be a problem for Snapdragon 8 Gen 4-powered devices.

Also, rumors also state that the cores could be clocked at 4GHz or higher. That’s significantly powerful, and it could give Apple’s chips a run for their money. Obviously, we know that AI will be a big focus of this chip.

Only time will tell. The first batch of Snapdragon phones will be going up against the iPhone 16 phones. So, it’ll be exciting to see if Android phones will be able to surpass iPhones in terms of performance.