Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy: Qualcomm tailors exclusive quad-cluster design with higher boost clocks for 2024 Samsung flagships

It is no secret that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 flagships would feature a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. Samsung is currently using a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC with the Galaxy S23 Series, Z Flip5, Z Fold5, and the Tab S9 Series.

The 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy isn't that different from the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 except for boosted clocks, and we recently reported that the once-exclusive chip for Galaxy can be considered to be the 8+ Gen 2 for all intents and purposes.

Now, both the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy have found their way to Geekbench. We recently spotted the 8 Gen 3 in a RedMagic 9 Pro on the benchmarking site and also previously reported about the 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy running in a purported Galaxy S24+.

If the information shown by Geekbench is true, Qualcomm could be going beyond mere clock speed increases for Samsung this time. Samsung flagships in 2024 could feature the 8 Gen 3 with an exclusive quad-cluster configuration and boosted clocks.

The regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is purported to sport a tri-cluster 1+5+2 configuration with a base clock of 2.26 GHz. This tri-cluster includes a Prime core at 3.19 GHz, five cores at 2.96 GHz, and two cores at 2.27 GHz.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, on the other hand, seems to show a quad-cluster 1+3+2+2 configuration with a 2.26 GHz base frequency. This Samsung-exclusive SoC is comprised of a Prime core clocked higher at 3.39 GHz, three cores at 3.15 GHz, two cores at 2.36 GHz, and two cores at 2.27 GHz.

The quad-cluster configuration does seem to scream performance, but it remains to seen what kind of real-world benefits this quad-cluster configuration would confer for Samsung flagships in 2024. It is also possible that Qualcomm would release the Galaxy-exclusive SoC to other OEMs in the latter half of 2024.

The Geekbench entries for the 8 Gen 3 and the 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy are linked below. Note that the scores themselves are not directly comparable as they are from different benchmark versions.

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