Galaxy S10 is one of the most powerful Android phones on the market right now

Galaxy S10 released at the start of March and, at the time, was arguably the most powerful smartphone on the market. Each of the four S10 variants is powered by either Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor or Samsung’s own Exynos 9820 chipset depending on the region it is sold in. The South Korean tech giant typically sells flagships with Qualcomm’s internals in the US while other areas across the globe, such as the UK, are granted the firm’s own hardware. Whether you pick up an S10 with a Snapdragon 855 or an Exynos 9820, the flagship will deliver zippy performance across Google’s Android operating system with Samsung’s One UI skin running on top.


But while both variants of the S10 series are incredibly fast, those that own the South Korean product have just been dealt a blow. For those living in the US, Qualcomm recently announced a successor the Snapdragon 855 that looks set to power flagship devices later this year. Called the Snapdragon 855 Plus, the semiconductor manufacturer declared the new processor should deliver better gaming, augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) performance than its predecessor. The 855 Plus also has a higher clock speed than the standard 855. Announcing the new chip, the vice president for product management at Qualcomm, Kedar Kondap, said: “Snapdragon 855 Plus will raise the bar for elite gamers with the increase in CPU and GPU performance and elevate experiences for 5G, gaming, AI and XR, which is something our OEM customers look to us to deliver. “Snapdragon 855 Plus is our most advanced mobile platform to date and will build upon the success of the 2019 Android flagship Snapdragon 855 5G mobile platform.”


The reveal of a mid-year refresh of the Snapdragon 855 processor surely came as a surprise to many Android fans - the firm typically announces its next-generation chipsets once a year, usually in the month of December. It is expected the new silicon will be housed inside new smartphones later this year. The release of the new processor will surely come as a blow to US Android fans that own an S10, especially those that crave the latest and greatest specifications. Qualcomm is not the only chip manufacturer that appears set to release an updated version of its flagship chipset this year. Samsung has been tipped to be planning the debut of an upgraded Exynos silicon that has been rumoured to feature inside the firm’s forthcoming Note 10 handset.

The Galaxy Note 10 has been rumoured to be powered by a more powerful Exynos processor