Recent news about a Samsung senior official attempting to sell company secrets to a Chinese competitor may have revealed details about an upcoming flagship device. SamMobile claims the information pertains to the Samsung Exynos 8895 chip , which may be featured on the Galaxy S8, rumored for a 2017 release.
Initial reports indicate the official was arrested after trying to pass off details about Samsung’s 14nm and 10nm processor technology. Sources told SamMobile this technology corresponds with the Exynos 8895, which is expected to feature a Mali-G71 GPU from ARM. The graphics chip is supposedly 1.8 times faster than the Mali-T880 MP12 GPU featured on the Galaxy S7, which released in March.
Samsung presented a focus on graphics and gaming with the Galaxy S7 earlier this year. The smartphone features the Vulkan API and Samsung’s game launcher, which allows users to control all game oriented functions from one area. Users can download and access games, control game settings, and record live game play through this area.
If this rumor pans out, consumers may see even more of a gaming push on the Galaxy S8. This would not be surprising, considering the gaming push Apple has introduced on the iPhone 7. The smartphone released last Friday, featuring compatibility with Nintendo’s first official mobile game, Super Mario Run.
Preliminary rumors also indicate the Galaxy S8 may have a VR focus with a 4K display and a high RAM capacity. With Android 7.0 Nougat now out and likely to be the Galaxy S8 operating system, the smartphone may have compatibility with Google’s Daydream VR platform. The platform requires smartphones to have specific components to allow for smooth VR playback with minimal latency. Among those components are a powerful processor and graphics chip.
Much like the Galaxy Note 7 and Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S8 will likely be available in two processor options, one featuring an Exynos chip and one featuring a chip from Qualcomm. The corresponding Qualcomm chip may be the Snapdragon 830. According to SamMobile, the Exynos 8895 has already proven more powerful than the Snapdragon 830 in benchmarks.
