Months before its launch, the US version of Samsung‘s Galaxy S24+ surfaced on the popular benchmarking platform Geekbench. The device has shown up with Qualcomm’s unreleased Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, revealing its unusual CPU setup and faster clock speeds.
Spotted by MySmartPrice, this Geekbench listing shows an unannounced Samsung smartphone with the model number SM-S926U. Based on the company’s current naming system, that should be the US version of the Galaxy S24+. Its global version should bear the model number SM-S926B. Likewise, the base Galaxy S24 should be SM-S921U/SM-S921B and the Ultra model should be SM-S928U/SM-S928B.
The listing reveals that the phone will feature an ARM-based octa-core processor codenamed “pineapple.” Considering the recent rumors and Samsung’s processor history for its US flagships, it should be none other than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Rumors have mentioned the same codename and an unusual quad-cluster CPU arrangement for the chip, which is confirmed by the Geekbench entry.
The chipset has one prime core clocked at 3.30GHz, three high-performance mid-cores at 3.15GHz, two more mid-cores at 2.96GHz, and two base cores at 2.27GHz. The CPU setup is paired with Qualcomm’s next-gen Adreno 750 GPU, which is rumored to operate at a 1GHz frequency. The Galaxy S24+ seen in this listing has 8GB of RAM, but Samsung could offer it in more memory configurations. The device will run Android 14 out of the box.
The Galaxy S24 series may use a ‘special’ Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
CPU frequencies mentioned in this Geekbench listing suggest it’s the standard version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. Samsung used a special version of the previous-gen solution in its 2023 flagships, with the prime CPU core operating at 3.36GHz (vs. 3.2GHz of the standard version). Rumors have suggested that the special version of the upcoming chip could boast a clock speed as high as 3.7GHz.
Once again, Qualcomm may keep it exclusive to Samsung. Unfortunately, not all Galaxy S24 buyers may get this chip. Samsung is rumored to bring back Exynos versions of its flagships next year. The 2024 models may use the upcoming Exynos 2400 in some markets, including Europe and some parts of Asia. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 may be limited to the US, China, and a few other countries.
Samsung has done this before, much to the frustration of users who got Exynos because of power and performance issues. To everyone’s liking, the company went all-in with Snapdragon for the Galaxy S23 series this year. Sadly, it appears all set to return to Exynos next year. Unless the Exynos 2400 can give the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 a run for its money, this move may backfire for Samsung. Long to go before the Galaxy S24 series is here.
2023-07-31 15:13:58