Galaxy S25's Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 May Outperform Apple's A18
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, which powers the Galaxy S24 (review) and OnePlus 12 (review), was primarily lauded for notable improvements, especially with its added AI capabilities. Now, reports of the succeeding flagship mobile SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, could lay down quite the marker in terms of raw power.
Early Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 benchmarks claim to surpass Apple's A18 chip
This information is based on the latest benchmark shared by a Weibo user with a mixed track record, so take this information with a pinch of salt. Rumor has it the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 scored 3,500 points in Geekbench's single-core benchmark, surpassing the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro's A18 SoC that is believed to hover at 3,200 points in the same benchmark.
The source added that Qualcomm's unannounced SoC will also beat the next-generation Apple mobile silicon in multicore and GPU segments. However, neither benchmark claim had any further support to back it up.
By comparison, the Galaxy S24 Ultra (review) powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy scored approximately 2,250 points in single-core based on our tests while the iPhone 15 Pro Max with A17 Pro generated around 2,930 points. On that note, we could posit the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 would offer a massive boost compared to its predecessor if the latest rumor holds any water.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has a crazy clock speed
Interestingly, another leak seemed to add weight to the possibility of a major performance gain in this chipset, albeit being possible only when overclocking is involved.
According to user LitterTree66, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC is currently being tested to run with the prime core clocked at 4.3 GHz while the secondary cores consist of cores that are limited to around 3.8 GHz. Those values are pretty high when compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 which has its prime core clocked at 3.3 GHz.
However, the CPU setup is said to be supplied by 1.3V (volts), which is more than the usual power rating required to power a chipset. Hence, the actual processor clock speed and performance could still be lower.
Regardless, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is touted to offer promising speed upgrades, thanks to Qualcomm incorporating an Oryon core. The system-on-chip will also utilize TSCM's 3 nm node, which allows the chipmaker to squeeze in more transistors while improving the chip's power efficiency as well.
Qualcomm is expected to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in October at the next Qualcomm summit. The first high-end smartphone that is rumored to debut with the chipset could include the OnePlus 13 while Samsung is set to follow suit with the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Ultra in 2025.
Do you think Qualcomm will finally give Apple a run for its money? Let us discuss your thoughts in the comments.
Via: Quadrans Muralis on X Source: Meeko Mini
