Qualcomm launched its state-of-the-art octa-core Snapdragon 835 Chipset, based on the 10nm architecture, this year in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ handsets from Samsung. The faster and more capable SoC was highly-praised after its release aboard the Samsung flagship smartphones. Since then, the Snapdragon 835 has become a staple in all of the high-end handsets that are available in the markets.
However, even amidst the hype for the Snapdragon 835, people were already speculating what would be next from Qualcomm. One particular rumor was that by the end of 2017, the chipmaker would be launching a slightly enhanced version of the Snapdragon 835, most likely called the Snapdragon 836.
However, these rumors may have been false according to a new report.
Snapdragon 836: Is it real?
AndroidPolice claims that it has inside information from a source at Qualcomm, who confirms that there never were any real plans of developing a snapdragon 836. XDA Developers also confirmed this news with its own article on the subject. In short, the source claimed that the Snapdragon 835 is a very stable and powerful chipset to begin with, which does not require any additional enhancements to work properly.
Previous occasions where Qualcomm has released an improved version of its chipsets include the Snapdragon 810 SoC. This particular processor was full of bugs and needed widespread enhancements to work properly.
This is why the Snapdragon 810 version 2.0 made sense, but the Snapdragon 836 does not.
Since the rumors of the Snapdragon 836 first started emerging, fans have associated the new chipset to be introduced in the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL handsets that Google is supposed to unveil this year. However, since there seems to be no Snapdragon 836 in existence, it is quite likely that both the Google flagship smartphones will ship with the Snapdragon 835 SoC on board.
A recent FCC filing also hints at this eventuality, as there too, the Pixel 2 was seen sporting the Snapdragon 835.
What is next for Qualcomm?
Apart from the non-existence of the Snapdragon 836, there is one more aspect that the Qualcomm fans may be wondering. What will the next chipset from the company be and when will it be launched?
There is no clear indication or answer for either of these questions.
There have been some reports which have claimed that the Snapdragon 845 SoC will be launched aboard the Galaxy S9 next year. However, these are based on mere speculations and there is not enough evidence to back it up. For now, fans will have to wait and watch what the chip maker does next.
