Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 is here, but not really

Qualcomm may have quietly launched the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 but without the “Plus” branding. The company is still calling it Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, though the new chip brings a faster CPU and GPU. And yes, it’s none other than the once-Samsung-exclusive version of the latest Snapdragon flagship.

If you recall, Samsung‘s Galaxy S23 series uses a Qualcomm processor globally. It’s an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The chip itself has a “for Galaxy” suffix on its name and comes with a slightly different part number than the standard version available to other brands. More precisely, its part number is SM8550-AC, while that of the standard chip is SM8550-AB.

In terms of clock speeds, the “for Galaxy” version has its fastest CPU core operating at 3.36GHz and GPU at 719MHz. In comparison, the standard solution has its CPU and GPU clocked at 3.2GHz and 680MHz, respectively. Samsung used this supposedly exclusive processor in the newly launched Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Tab S9 series as well.

However, it turns out its exclusivity of the “for Galaxy” version ended long back. This overclocked chip is already found inside devices from other brands. Namely, ZTE’s Nubia RedMagic 8S Pro debuted a month back featuring this chipset. The folks over at XDA Developers checked its part number and clock speeds, and everything matched with the “for Galaxy” version.

The chip should be this year’s Plus version

Interestingly, both Qualcomm and ZTE still refer to the chip as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. But since it has a faster CPU and GPU than the standard version, it should be this year’s Plus version. Qualcomm has been releasing mid-year refreshes of its flagship processors with the “Plus” branding in recent years. They brought nothing apart from faster clock speeds.

This year, there’s no sign of a chip officially called the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2. By the looks of it, Qualcomm has quietly shipped the processor without a name change. In fact, this appears to be the company’s strategy going forward, though we aren’t very fond of this idea. It might get confusing for consumers to figure out whether a smartphone uses the original chip or the mid-year refresh.

“Given the minor adjustment to CPU prime core frequency, we’re treating this platform as a variant of the original platform (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2),” Qualcomm said in a statement to XDA following this discovery. “Our goal is to maintain our simplified naming structure that was introduced in November 2021 so it’s easier for OEMs and consumers to discover and choose devices powered by Snapdragon.”