Qualcomm's 7nm Snapdragon 855 Might Be Rebranded For Its Early 2019 Smartphone Debut

However, we're now learning this might not be the case after all and that Qualcomm is adopting a new naming scheme. While the chip still carries the codename "Hana", WinFuture is reporting that it will actually be called Snapdragon 8150 when it first hits smartphones in early 2019.

So why the name change? Well, it's surmised that Qualcomm is switching things up to avoid confusion with Snapdragon SoCs designed for Always Connected Windows 10 PCs. Given that Qualcomm is launching the Snapdragon 850 later this year to go into Windows 10 convertibles, it's easy to see why some might be confused between it, the Snapdragon 845 and a hypothetical Snapdragon 855. This new naming convention will spread to Qualcomm's existing and new SoC products over the coming year.

Seems like Qualcomm has a new naming scheme coming. Snapdragon 855 is not what the final name will be - need to do more research on this, but I think they are switching the chip names to a different scheme to separate chips being destined for mobile from the ones for use in PCs.

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) August 16, 2018

It's reported that the Snapdragon 8150 will have an integrated Snapdragon X24 Category 20 LTE modem that will deliver downlink speeds of 2Gbps. It's still too early in the game for Qualcomm to integrate a 5G modem into its flagship smartphone SoC, so that will probably have wait until 2020 (or later). 2019 flagship Android smartphones that want to go the 5G connectivity route will likely use a separate Snapdragon X50 5G modem. Other factoids surrounding the Snapdragon 8150 is that it will have a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to accelerate AI operations and that it will be built on a new 7nm manufacturing process.

One of the first products out of the gate with the new Snapdragon 8150 -- or whatever it ends be called -- will likely be the Samsung Galaxy S10.