Weibo’s Digital Chat Station, a China-based tipster, says the company is likely working on a new smartphone featuring Qualcomm’s next-generation flagship chip. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, internally known as Qualcomm SM8550, is expected to replace Qualcomm 8 Plus Gen 1 in most premium phones, including the OnePlus 10T.
As of right now, little is known about the upcoming OnePlus 11 or Qualcomm’s next-generation chip. This chip is likely to be fabricated on a 4nm process. Reports have indicated that Samsung Semiconductor plans to begin mass production of Qualcomm’s 3nm chips in June. However, given that the chips are expected to be available to phone makers as early as November itself, it is unlikely that 3nm chips will be produced before the end of 2022.
Whether the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 makes a big leap in performance over its predecessor or remains an incremental improvement, remains to be seen. Almost every high-performance flagship smartphone today uses the current flagship chipset.
Xiaomi is expected to be the first OEM to launch a smartphone powered by the new Snapdragon chip, but OnePlus is expected to follow soon with the OnePlus 11.
