Rumor | Several Android OEMs are working on their next-gen Snapdragon-powered flagship phones already

Some initial rumors point to the prospect of an immediate upgrade to the Snapdragon 888 that might emerge by the end of 2021. Despite the fact that this is months away at present, the eminent leaker Digital Chat Station now claims that Qualcomm has already sent sample units of this chipset to several well-known Android phone manufacturers.

The leaker has referred to these OEMs as "TOP (verbatim) domestic" companies, which might be taken to mean leading OEMs such as Xiaomi and OPPO. Lenovo has also reportedly pledged to make late-2021 or 2022 flagships based on the new Qualcomm silicon for its own brand, as well as that of its subsidiary Motorola.

As for this processor, it is provisionally known as the SM8450, although it might be marketed as the Snapdragon 895 or similar on its eventual launch. It is expected to ship with a new Kryo 780 CPU, as well as a next-gen GPU, display processing unit (DPU) and image-signal processor (ISP) called the Adreno 730, Adreno 1195 and Spectra 680, respectively.

According to Digital Chat Station, this potential combination will lead to a performance bump over the 888 that is greater than that between the current flagship and its predecessor the 865.

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