syn_anandtech: Qualcomm Begins Sampling of 7nm Next-Gen SoC

Qualcomm Begins Sampling of 7nm Next-Gen SoC

Today Qualcomm announces it has begun to sampling of its next generation Snapdragon SoC. The announcement is unusual as in the past we’ve never really had sampling announcements. Usually new silicon samples start around 4-6 months before commercial device availability.

Recently, Huawei had let it slip in an official press release that the new Kirin 980 in the upcoming Mate 20 will be manufactured on a 7nm process node. Today’s announcement from Qualcomm seems to be a “me too!” shout-out response ahead of competitor's announcements over the next few weeks.

The next-generation Snapdragon SoC will be manufactured on TSMC’s 7FF process node, bringing with it the associated performance and power benefits over current generation silicon. The new SoC can be paired with Qualcomm’s X50 modem in order to enable the first generation 5G smartphones next year.

Qualcomm discloses we’ll see the full details of the next-generation flagship SoC and platform in the fourth quarter. Overall the only surprise in today’s news is the fact that Qualcomm is willing to talk about sampling timelines; the timing itself doesn’t seem different to what has happened in prior years, and we’ll still quite a few months away from the first commercial devices, most likely to happen in 1Q19.

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