Samsung corners Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processors for its Galaxy S8

24 Jan 2017

A report from Forbes , corroborated by The Verge today, revealed that the bulk of the first Snapdragon 835 processors, were being taken by Samsung and in the process, forcing competitors to make do with the older Snapdragon 821 chipset.

According to Forbes Samsung would release its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S8, on 14 April. Till then no Android flagship phones would feature the 835 chip. The report specifically called out the LG G6 as being based on the Snapdragon 821, and according to commentators, it was already known that the HTC U Ultra would use the 2016 silicon.

They say it was hard to know exactly how much better the new 2017 chip would be, especially given the strong and proven performance of the Snapdragon 821 in devices like the Google Pixel and OnePlus 3T.

But they say it was obviously going to be disappointing to Android enthusiasts who might have been looking forward to a choice of Snapdragon 835 phones in March.

The Verge reported one Android manufacturer as saying that it felt confident working with the 821 processor, while another argued that the 835 would always be too late for the annual early-spring refresh among flagship Android smartphones.

Forbes cited a source as saying that the Snapdragon 835 would not be available in large quantities until after the launch of the Galaxy S8. He added, according to a leak, the LG 6 would run on Snapdragon 821.

According to Forbes, LG had proven in the past that it did not really stress too much about using the latest chip. Two years ago the company's G4 opted for the Snapdragon 808 rather than the 810 that was available due to concerns about overheating.