Qualcomm is working on at least six variants of Snapdragon 8 Gen 6 Pro

The San Diego giant is preparing to bring to the market its first generation of processors based on a 2 nm manufacturing process.

According to recent rumors, Qualcomm would be testing six different hardware samples of its upcoming high-end chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, designed to power smartphones in the Ultra category of next year.

The technology required to manufacture these semiconductors will inevitably entail very high manufacturing costs. To prevent smartphone manufacturers from having to pass these cost increases on to end consumers, the American company is studying a particularly flexible strategy.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 6 Pro, several variants to reduce costs?

The information disclosed by the insider Reptalica on the X platform suggests that Qualcomm is preparing a very extensive catalog for its customers.

The aim is to provide partner brands with the ability to combine various technical specifications, keeping costs under control without sacrificing high-level performance.

This diversification is necessary due to the strong economic pressures currently weighing on the supply chain for mobile devices.

The persistent global shortage of memory continues to negatively affect the revenues of the technology industry, making the price of individual components a non-negligible obstacle for those who develop and assemble hardware.

Going into the details of the leaked configurations, the six prototypes undergoing testing are divided into three main categories, each of which splits into two versions named respectively AC and BC.

The substantial difference between these two variants resides in the support for the different memory standards. The models identified by the AC acronym are optimized for the upcoming LPDDR6 RAM, which will likely be paired with next-generation storage memories UFS 5.0 exclusively on the most expensive devices on the market.

On the contrary, the BC versions are configured to leverage the current and more economical standard LPDDR5X. This second option will allow cost-conscious manufacturers to save substantial sums in assembly.

Despite these differences, all six samples share the same board number, identified as MPSP2138B, and maintain full support for 5G networks, including modules for both sub-6GHz frequencies and mmWave frequencies.

In addition to variations related to memory modules, analysts hypothesize that the six configurations are the result of a silicon selection process known as binning, a technique already successfully adopted by other companies such as Apple.

By modulating the clock frequencies of the CPU and GPU across the different variants, Qualcomm has the opportunity to market slightly underclocked versions of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro at a lower cost. Brand partners could thus accept a very slight drop in raw performance in exchange for much lighter supply invoices.

Quando sarà annunciato?

The launch window for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 standard and its Pro counterpart is expected for the end of this year.

In addition to this diversified offering, it is believed that Qualcomm may also keep in the lineup models from the previous generation, such as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, to further widen the price range covered by its products.

As these are engineering samples, the final specifications destined for the consumer market could undergo changes before the official announcement, but the direction taken underscores the intent to build a range of solutions capable of adapting to every budgetary requirement of the business partners.