Currently the toast of the town, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 is expected to mightily power the upcoming 2016 Android flagships - the LG G5, the HTC One M10 and Sony Xperia Z6 to name a few. But Samsung, a new report said, has inked a deal to make the SD 820 exclusive for the Galaxy S7 release date.
Rumors that came from China, picked up by GSM Arena this week, claim that if the LG G5 and HTC One M10 will roll out in the first three months of 2016, these devices and other Android flagships will not be allowed to use the next-generation Qualcomm chip. Samsung has reportedly secured a deal with the giant chipmaker that will make the SD 820 off limits to other OEMs at least until April 2016.
And as expected, the first Samsung device to rock SD 820 is the Galaxy S7 that is rumored to unbox in four versions - the regular Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S7 Plus, the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Galaxy S7 Edge Plus. All models are speculated to come out March 2016.
If the report will prove correct, Samsung appears gunning for a big advantage for its first 2016 flagship. While the South Korean tech giant and Qualcomm have yet to comment on the matter, the rumor seems to align with an earlier report that Samsung was working closely with Qualcomm in developing and completing work on the SD 820.
The SD 820 exclusive on the Galaxy S7 will mean that Android phones rumored for outing in early 2016 would be forced to scramble for alternatives or perhaps settle for the Snapdragon 810, reportedly plagued by overheating issues.
According to iDigitalTimes, HTC plans to release the HTC One M10 no later than March next year while the Xiaomi Mi5 should be out by January 2016. Reports also recently surfaced claiming that the LG G5 will debut a little earlier than the Galaxy S7.
All three flagships, if indeed would be unboxed in early 2016, will find the SD 820 out of reach, at least temporarily.
At any rate, Samsung is said to power the Galaxy S7 on release date with the SD 820 but some versions will also draw power from the company's in-house Exynos 8890 M1 chip. The Android will likely be introduced via the 2016 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain with the actual rollout scheduled March 2016.