The company is expected to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in October, and it will represent the first appearance of one of its own Oryon CPU cores inside a smartphone SoC. Although this shift to custom cores will naturally elevate prices, as subtly alluded by a Qualcomm executive. There’s no confirmation on the exact pricing, but you would expect a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 to be more costly than its predecessor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and one tipster claims that it will indeed see a price hike of around 20%.
More About the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
Ice Universe on Weibo states purchasing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip could cost $240, which he believes is a significant increase compared to last year’s price for the chip expected at around $200 when it comes in as Snapdragon 8 Gen. However, it remains unclear if this price is for the version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 with an integrated 5G modem or the Wi-Fi-only variant.
Earlier leaks indicated that Qualcomm’s upcoming SoC will have two versions: the ‘SM8750’ and the ‘SM8750P.’ The SM8750P version is expected to lack a baseband chip, suggesting it will be used in Wi-Fi-only flagship tablets. Whether Qualcomm will charge a premium for models featuring the integrated Snapdragon X80 5G modem remains unknown, but this will likely become clear once the chipset is officially launched.
Qualcomm’s pricing methodology for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is complicated and can vary by circumstance due to different deals with partners. After all, Samsung can move tens of millions of flagship devices while Xiaomi’s volumes are slightly lower: that might lead to different terms. The likely higher cost is also related to the switch over to TSMC’s second-gen 3nm process as well as new custom Oryon CPU cores. While the 20 percent price hike is a strong rumor, it’s best to wait for more concrete information after the official announcement.
