Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Reportedly Already In Production For 2019 Android Phones
Qualcomm is very much an active player in the mobile space with its Snapdragon chipsets, which are commonly found in Android phones and tablets. At present, the Snapdragon 845 is Qualcomm's flagship mobile processor. It is built on a 10-nanometer manufacturing process, is fast (for a mobile part), and has been around for several months. The chip might also be old news pretty soon—there is a listing on Geekbench that suggests Qualcomm is already mass producing its next flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 855.
The database entry points to an unnamed Xiaomi handset with an "SDM855 for ARM64" underneath the hood. That suggests a Snapdragon 855 processor, and if that is really the case, then it stands to reason that Qualcomm has been mass producing its next-gen flagship for at least a month, perhaps even longer.
Looks like Qualcomm's SDM855 has been in mass production since at least early June.
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) July 29, 2018
Prominent leaker Roland Quandt spotted the database entry and brought it to attention on Twitter. Quandt has been following the situation for many months now, and back in February, he claimed to have heard from Qualcomm's contractors that the Snapdragon 855 (SDM855) will be built on a 7-nanometer manufacturing process. He also noted that it will likely arrive with a speedy Snapdragon X24 LTE modem on board.
His information at the time was consistent with an earlier report that essentially said the same thing. The reported noted that Qualcomm was switching from Samsung to TSMC to produce both the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon X24 LTE modem.
Nothing is confirmed at this point, but the rumors and leaks fit nicely together. Along those lines, TSMC is said to have begun mass producing 7nm parts a month ago. This begs the question, which will be the first phone to feature the Snapdragon 855?
It could end up inside Google's Pixel 3 devices, and it will almost definitely power the US version of Samsung's Galaxy S10 handsets. Of those two, the Pixel 3 will be announced first, probably in October.
