Samsung Galaxy S21 chipset likely to be unveiled in December

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A new Snapdragon

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chipsets are used in the majority of high-end Android phones, and next year’s top model of processor is almost certainly being unveiled in early December.

We know that because the company has sent out invites to its annual Tech Summit, this time happening on December 1-2 and being held digitally. Usually, Qualcomm’s Tech Summit is hosted in Hawaii, but given the current state of the world, it's understandable it won’t be this year.

The invite doesn’t say what will be announced there, but Qualcomm tends to launch new high-end Snapdragon chipsets at the event, so we’re expecting to see the long-rumored Snapdragon 875 here, especially as an email connected with the invite and received by Android Authority mentions “premium-tier mobile performance.”

Qualcomm invite

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon 875 is the expected successor to the Snapdragon 865, a chipset found in the likes of US models of the Samsung Galaxy S20 range, along with the OnePlus 8 range, the Sony Xperia 1 II, and a number of other high-end handsets.

The Snapdragon 875 then will probably power the successors to these phones, with the Samsung Galaxy S21 likely to be one of the first phones to use it, as based on Samsung’s usual release timings that will probably launch in early 2021.

Based on past form the Snapdragon 875 will probably only be used in US models of the Galaxy S21, with the UK and Australia instead getting a comparable Exynos chipset made by Samsung. But other handsets such as the OnePlus 9 and Sony Xperia 1 III will likely use the Snapdragon 875 worldwide.

While nothing is yet known for certain about the Snapdragon 875, it’s rumored to offer up to 30% better performance than the Snapdragon 865 from its fastest core and up to 20% better from the other cores, so next year’s flagship phones could be seriously powerful.

We’ll know more in December, and TechRadar will bring you all the details when the chipset launches.

Via Phone Arena

James Rogerson
James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.