Qualcomm turns to Samsung to prevent heat issues with next-gen Snapdragon 820

By Killian Bell

Following overheating headaches with its latest Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm will reportedly switch manufacturers for its next-generation Snapdragon 820.

Samsung has been chosen to build the chipset using its new 14-nanometer manufacturing process, a new report claims, and it will do so with custom CPU cores that will deliver speeds of up to 3GHz.

TSMC currently manufacturers Qualcomm’s latest lineup of chips, including the Snapdragon 810, which has been the subject of controversy since it made its debut. An overheating issue has caused problems for many handset manufacturers, including HTC and Sony.

To ensure that it doesn’t see a repeat of this, Qualcomm is turning to Samsung for the Snapdragon 820 and Snapdragon 620, according to a report out of China. Samsung is expected to use the same 14-nanometer manufacturing process it employs for its own Exynos 7420 chip, which powers the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge — and does a splendid job of it.

This process is more advanced than the 16-nanometer process TSMC is currently using, and it means greater performance, power efficiency, and most importantly, cooler operation. And that’s not the only big upgrade the Snapdragon 820 will bring, according to the report.

It’s also expected to use custom, 64-bit Kyro CPU cores — not the stock ARM cores Qualcomm has been using — that will deliver speeds up to 3GHz.

HTC, Sony, and Xiaomi are thought to be the first handset makers lining up to employ the Snapdragon 820 in new devices, and the first are expected to arrive this October.