Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 platform will support LPDDR6

The forthcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 platform is of paramount importance to Qualcomm, as it will be equipped with custom Oryon cores that integrate NUVIA technology. It is highly likely that it will be the company’s first chip manufactured using the 3nm process, and may also usher in additional enhancements, such as support for faster and more efficient memory.

Recently, it has been divulged by Twitter user @OreXda that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 platform will support the next-generation LPDDR6, and the performance boost brought about by the custom Oryon cores may be one of the reasons for Qualcomm’s transition to faster memory. The platform could benefit from the increased memory bandwidth afforded by the LPDDR6 standard, thus better harnessing its performance potential.

Currently, there is a 30% bandwidth gap and a 20% power consumption difference between Samsung’s LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X. Evidently, LPDDR6 will possess even greater advantages, rendering it more efficient for flagship smartphones. Samsung is at the forefront of LPDDR6 technology, although the specific standard or technical specifications for LPDDR6 remain unclear at this time.

It is understood that the CPU portion of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will adopt a 2+6 architecture, pairing two “Nuvia Phoenix” performance cores with six “Nuvia Phoenix M” energy-efficient cores. Leaked test results reveal that the chip’s scores in Geekbench 5’s multi-threaded benchmark tests even surpass those of Apple’s M2 chip.

Recent reports suggest that Qualcomm’s future Snapdragon 8 platform may adopt a dual-foundry strategy, utilizing TSMC’s N3E process and Samsung’s 3nm GAA process, with the potential for realization by early 2024. The conventional version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip will be manufactured using TSMC’s N3E process, while the version fabricated with Samsung’s 3nm GAA process may be dubbed the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for Galaxy,” exclusively designed for the Galaxy S25 series of smartphones.