Qualcomm has, according to reports from Android Authority Quietly listed on its own website a new version of its flagship chip Snapdragon 8 Elite with just seven cores instead of eight. The chip, called SM8750-3-AB, is intended to be a cheaper alternative to the full top model.
Compared to the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite, the new variant is missing one of the six performance cores. Two powerful Prime cores remain unchanged with clock speeds of up to 4.32 GHz. The technical data is identical in other respects as well. Perhaps it is a model with a disabled core.
This means the seven-core chip should be slightly cheaper than the full version. This could enable smartphone makers to introduce a new class of slightly cheaper flagship models that still offer high performance. However, the first devices with specific prices or chips are not yet known.
Android expert Mishal Rahman seems to have known about this chip for a long time and noted that the seven-core chip is believed to be a special edition for the foldable as the configuration generates less heat. In benchmarks, the results are 2 percent (AnTuTu) and 7 percent (Geekbench Multicore) lower
Qualcomm is also said to be working on another sub-flagship SoC called the Snapdragon 8s Elite. This chip will have the same core configuration as last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but with lower clock speeds. So it’s a bit slower than the 7-core version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and more suitable for the upper middle class.
However, offering different variants under the same name can lead to confusion among buyers. Not every “Snapdragon 8 Elite” will be the same. Smartphone makers need to clearly communicate which version they’re using – and pay close attention to consumers if it matters to them.
Don’t get me wrong: whether there’s one core more or less probably doesn’t matter in day-to-day life for most users. However, I find the strategy of using different hardware under the same name to be customer-unfriendly.
