A rumor suggests that a few Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chips will be made by Samsung

It was quite unfortunate for Samsung that it lost Qualcomm’s chip order to TSMC. Since then, Qualcomm has never looked back at Samsung, despite its consistent efforts to improve its chip fabrication technology. After the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset case, TSMC manufactured the next three chip generations: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Qualcomm. There have been several reports and rumors that suggest that Qualcomm could return to Samsung in the future.

Just recently, it was reported that Qualcomm has asked TSMC and Samsung Foundry to work on the 2nm prototype chips. Possibly, the prototype refers to a future Snapdragon 8 Gen series chipset. As of now, a new rumor suggests that Qualcomm could use Samsung foundry services for manufacturing some Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chips. Reportedly, Samsung will be manufacturing the ‘For Galaxy’ version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chips that could be used to power the Galaxy S26 series.

In the last two years, Qualcomm has debuted two different versions of its flagship chips, including a regular one and a dedicated chipset for use in Samsung Galaxy‘s flagship smartphones. Samsung’s Galaxy tablets and smartphones employ the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy variants, which have faster CPU and GPU clock speeds.

As far as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chips are concerned, Qualcomm will possibly utilize the second-gen 3nm process (N3E) of TSMC. As compared to the first-generation 3nm process (N3/N3B), this process offers improved yield and power efficiency. TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process (N3/N3B) was used for Apple A17 Pro chips that power the iPhone 15 Pro series. According to reports, Qualcomm considered using Samsung Foundry’s 3nm (3GAP) technology for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, but in the end, opted to work only with TSMC. However, Qualcomm may use TSMC and Samsung Foundry to produce the processors for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5.