It is expected that the upcoming Galaxy S8 will come out in both Exynos and Snapdragon versions. However, the release may be staggered, as the Snapdragon variant is likely to come out later.
Alleged reports out of China mention that Qualcomm has asked Samsung to manufacture the 10-nm chipset scheduled for release early next year. However, with the fiasco with the Galaxy Note 7 release, the South Korea-based tech maker had to realign its production lines in order to make its scheduled release of the Galaxy S8 in Q1 2017. The Samsung flagships are mainly run by homegrown Exynos chipsets. It is likely that Samsung will focus on the new Exynos 8895 chipset, the processor for the upcoming flagship.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm has reportedly turned to another noted manufacturer, TSMC, to make the Snapdragon 830 chipset. However, there may be a slight setback for the release because of the production shift. This means that a global launch for the Galaxy S8, which will feature the Snapdragon 830 processor, is likely to be delayed.
Usually, Samsung schedules both Exynos and Snapdragon-powered flagships for global rollout at the same time.
Meanwhile, there are also reports that the Exynos-powered Samsung Galaxy S8 may also suffer a delayed release. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Galaxy S8 will offer a number of major improvements over its predecessor, including an AI-supported digital assistant. Reportedly, the massive changes for the new flagship will set back the release of the Galaxy S8 by a couple of months. In a revamped schedule, the new flagship is expected to come out by April at the earliest.
Usually, Samsung releases its next Galaxy S flagship at the start of the year and one of its showcase products for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC). Previous reports have mentioned that the Galaxy S8 will appear on Feb. 26, before the start of the 2017 MWC.
