A new leak purports to set a rough launch date for the Snapdragon 865 Plus already

Qualcomm's new premium kingpin, the Snapdragon 865 SoC, has barely settled into life as the flagship silicon of choice for Android phones in 2020. In fact, it only has a small handful of actual real-world manifestations as yet, which comprise the freshly-launched Xiaomi Mi 10 and Samsung Galaxy S20 series. However, that has not stopped the increasingly reliable leaker Digital Chat Station bringing up the possibility of its immediate successor on Weibo.

This refreshed SoC - most likely to be known as the 865+ - is now projected for a third-quarter (or 3Q2020) launch. The tipster also claims that steps in its fabrication process will start as soon as April of this year. Then again, this rumor does not include any details as to how the Plus variant may differ from the existing chipset.

In addition, one might wonder if the leaker has taken the current crisis that is the novel coronavirus outbreak into account in making their new prediction. This increasingly serious epidemic has already affected the ability of potential S20 and Mi 10 competitors such as the Realme X50 Pro and ZTE Axon 10s Pro to make the world's stage.

Furthermore, similar delays at industrial and commercial levels could delay Snapdragon 865+ powered phones. Going by the pattern laid down in 2019, they may include interesting devices such as the OnePlus 8T/8T Pro, the Black Shark 3 refresh, the updated Nubia Red Magic 5G and perhaps even a third-gen Asus ROG Phone.