Which chips will be powering the Galaxy S24 series where you live?
One of the major questions revolving around the upcoming flagship Galaxy S24 series is how Samsung will handle the deployment of the two chipsets rumored to be powering the line: the homegrown Exynos 2400 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. Traditionally, Samsung used Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips for its Galaxy S phones in the U.S. and China while the latest Exynos application processor (AP) would be used everywhere else in the world.
The latest rumor has Samsung using two different chipsets for the Galaxy S24 series
This year Samsung decided to go with the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy AP to power all Galaxy S23 phones everywhere. But with a pretty powerful deca-core Exynos 2400 available (although not as powerful as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 according to Geekbench tests), the latest rumor has Samsung equipping the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ with the Exynos 2400 in all markets but the U.S. and China. In those markets, the two models will have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy under the hood.
Geekbench result for Korean Galaxy S24 Ultra shows the use of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
Continuing with this rumor, all Galaxy S24 Ultra units, regardless of the market they are released in, will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset. Before we move forward, you might recall that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy had an overclocked Cortex-X3 Prime core that ran at 3.36GHz compared to 3.19GHz for the regular variant of the SoC. This year's "for Galaxy" Snapdragon chip is a little bit stranger according to "X" tipster Yogesh Brar.
As we told you the other day, Brar says that the Prime Cortex-X4 core on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip will be overclocked at 3.40GHz (compared to 3.30GHz on the non-Galaxy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3). So far, so good. But Brar adds that the Performance CPU core and the Efficiency CPU core will be underclocked which is quite surprising. The Cortex-A720 Performance core will run at 3.20GHz/3.00GHz on the regular variant and 3.15GHz/2.97GHz on the "for Galaxy" version. The Cortex-A520 Efficiency core will be clocked at 2.30GHz on the regular SoC and at 3.27GHz on the "for Galaxy" version.
According to mysmartprice, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Ultra both were run through the Geekbench benchmark test and confirmed some of the rumors about which chips Samsung will place inside each of its upcoming flagship Galaxy S24 models.
The Korean version of the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a model number of SM-S928N and the Geekbench test revealed that it comes with 12GB of RAM. The test also showed that the phone sports the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy AP running at the clock speeds that we mentioned two paragraphs above this one. In case you were wondering, the single-core score was 2214 with a multi-core score of 6744.
Exynos 2400 SoC will power the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ in most markets
The Geekbench test of the Korean Galaxy S24 (SM-S921N) revealed that it was powered by the deca-core Exynos 2400 with a Prime CPU core running at 3.21GHz, two Performance CPU cores clocked at 2.90GHz, three more Performance CPU cores clocked at 2.59GHz, and four Efficiency CPU cores running at 1.96GHz. The phone also was tested with 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy S24 scored 2051 and 6204 for the single-core and multi-core scores respectively.
Geekbench test for the Korean Galaxy S24 shows that it will be powered by the Exynos 2400 SoC outside of the U.S. and China
So what does this all mean? Well, it would appear that the rumor mill has the chipset situation for the Galaxy S24 line pegged. To reiterate, those in the U.S. and China will get all three models powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. In other markets, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ will carry Samsung's newest chipset while the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy.
Why would Samsung do this? You're not going to like the answer, but using the Exynos 2400 SoC on its phones saves Samsung money. Not only is it cheaper for Samsung to obtain chips it designed itself, but Qualcomm is known for its "no license, no chips" business practice. You can't blame Samsung for wanting to keep its costs down, especially since the Exynos 2400 seems like a very capable chipset.
The Galaxy S24 line could be unveiled earlier than usual this year, perhaps sometime in January.
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