14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is believed to be working on a new smartphone that could land as a more affordable version of the Galaxy S8, with power to come from Qualcomm’s unannounced Snapdragon 840 chip.
Spotted on Geekbench for the very first time, the new Samsung model is codenamed SM-G9600, and it features a four-core processor clocked at 1.77 GHz. WinFuture speculates this could be the Snapdragon 840, which might be used by Samsung to power a new version of the Galaxy S8 possibly called Galaxy S8 Lite.
The device runs Android 7.1.2 and features 4GB RAM, which aligns it with the existing versions of the Galaxy S8 and indicates that Samsung might be preparing dramatic changes only in terms of CPU.
While very little is known at this point, launching a more affordable version of the Galaxy S8 seems to come in line with the most recent reports on the company’s flagship series of phones.
Why it makes sense
First and foremost, it appears that Samsung is not at all pleased with how the Galaxy S8 is selling, as the new model is less successful than its predecessor with only 9.8 million units sold in the first two months on the market, versus 12 million units for the Galaxy S7.
With a more affordable version, Samsung hopes it could boost sales of the S8, while at the same time tackle a wider range of markets where expensive models aren’t exactly the most successful phones.
Then, the choice of a Snapdragon 840 chip could help Samsung keep the price as low as possible, as this would be an upgraded version of the older Snapdragon 820 with improvements in terms of modem performance and GPU. The Snapdragon 820 was the flagship chip at the time of its launch, so Samsung hopes that the differences as far as performance goes won’t be so dramatic as compared to the Snapdragon 835.
Earlier information indicated that the Snapdragon 840 could launch in the fourth quarter of this year, and this provides us with a hint regarding the ETA of the new Samsung model as well. Most likely, the device would go live in the fall, possibly a couple of months after the new Note 8 model.
There are voices which seem to indicate that this could be the very first appearance of the Galaxy S9, but this is highly unlikely given that upgrades in terms of CPU and RAM are expected for the next Samsung flagship phone.
Furthermore, earlier reports have indicated that Samsung could go for the yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 845 or 850 chip, though this is just pure speculation for the time being, as the name of the next top Qualcomm processor is not yet known.