Qualcomm is scheduled to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 next year, with an earlier report stating that instead of switching to a dual-sourcing strategy where the SoC would be mass produced by both Samsung and TSMC, all orders will be given to the Taiwanese firm. There are several reasons for this, with one of them being that Samsung was not aggressive with its 3nm chip production push, forcing Qualcomm to source them from a single foundry for next year. In short, San Diego’s dual-sourcing strategy will have to wait another year.

A dual-sourcing strategy would have meant lowered production costs and improved availability for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4

Pushing the boundaries of smartphone chipset development enables companies like Qualcomm to produce silicon that touts incredible power efficiency while delivering impressive performance gains. Unfortunately, these perks come at a production cost spike, and with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 already said to be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3thanks to its custom Oryon cores, using a single foundry will not benefit any of Qualcomm’s partners.

According to TrendForce, with 100 percent of chipset orders going to TSMC, Qualcomm has delayed its dual-sourcing strategy to 2025, when it is slated to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. It was previously rumored that there would be two variants of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4; a regular version and one catered for Samsung’s Galaxy S lineup that would sport the name Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for Galaxy and mass produced on Samsung’s 3nm GAA process.

However, a previous report stated that for Samsung even to receive Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 orders from Qualcomm, it would require its foundry’s 3nm yields to reach a minimum of 70 percent. Given that Samsung does not share the same focus as TSMC to pursue more clients for its cutting-edge node, it has once again lost out on a lucrative opportunity. Fortunately, with Qualcomm continuing its pursuit of a dual-sourcing strategy, we could see Samsung return as a supplier in the near future.

News Source: TrendForce