Flagship smartphones will fall in price. Qualcomm is preparing a simpler version of SoC Snapdragon 888 – without a built-in 5G modem

Well-known insider Roland Quandt shared on Twitter details about the new version of the Snapdragon 888 SoC, which Qualcomm is preparing with might and main. This will be a slightly simpler version of the current SoC – without the built-in 5G modem. Simpler means cheaper: this platform (it runs under the catalog number SM8325, while the regular Snapdragon 888 number is SM 8350) will allow the flagship smartphone models to be cheaper. At the same time, all the power of the original Snapdagon 888 will remain – the “super core” Cortex-X1 will remain in the CPU configuration.

Qualcomm has a lower end derivate of the Snapdragon 888 (SM8350) in the works. SM8325 is the model number and there seems to be NO integrated 5G modem on this one. #CheapFlagshipPhones

– Roland Quandt (@rquandt) March 8, 2021

At the same time, the frequency of this core will be slightly lower: 2.7 GHz instead of up to 2.84 GHz in the current Snapdragon 888. The frequencies of three Cortex-A78 and four Cortex-A55 cores will not change – 2.4 and 1.8 GHz, respectively. Also SM8325 will provide support for 16 GB of RAM. According to an insider, a test platform with a new SoC is already available to Qualcomm partners – it includes 256 GB of UFS 3.1 flash memory and 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM.

Roland Quandt is a reliable and trusted informant, who has repeatedly disclosed details about not officially presented devices. This was the case, for example, with the Samsung Galaxy S21 and the DJI FPV drone.