The Geekbench listing in question is for a Samsung smartphone bearing the model number SM-S918B. It is the Galaxy S23 Ultra intended for European markets. The listing reveals that the phone will feature an octa-core processor codenamed “Kalama”. It is none other than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which went official earlier this week. The US variants of all three Galaxy S23 models previously appeared on Geekbench running the same chipset. If anything, this confirms that Samsung is going all-in with Snapdragon for its next-gen flagships. Well, Qualcomm officially claimed earlier this month that it will exclusively power the Galaxy S23 series. But the Korean brand was mysteriously missing from its partners’ list during the launch of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 a few days back. This created confusion about whether Samsung may still use Exynos in some markets. Thankfully, not to be. Europe was the biggest market where the Korean behemoth launched Exynos-powered Galaxy S22 this year. All major markets got Snapdragon. A switch to the latter for European Galaxy S23 units confirms what we have been hearing all along. There were hints that Samsung may still keep Exynos processors in a few markets. But that no longer appears as a possibility. And it’s a good decision by the company. Exynos chipsets haven’t been able to compete with their Snapdragon counterparts lately.
The Galaxy S23 series may get a special version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
If rumors are to be believed, Samsung isn’t just going all-in with Snapdragon next year. But it is taking things up a notch and using an exclusive version of the processor optimized for the Galaxy S23 series. If true, the next-gen Samsung flagships may bring a substantial performance improvement over their respective predecessors. There are plenty of rumors about improvements in other areas too. We are hearing about much better camera output, bigger batteries, and improved displays among other things. All in all, the Galaxy S23 series could still feel a generation up from the Galaxy S22 despite looking pretty much the same from the outside. Samsung is said to be planning for a January 2023 launch of the new devices. Stay tuned for more leaks and rumors until then.
