Qualcomm partners with Samsung to launch latest Snapdragon 835 processor
Qualcomm has announced the development of the Snapdragon 835 processor family, created through a partnership with Samsung to reduce chip size and increase performance.
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Speaking at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit in New York on November 17, Keith Kressin, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm said the new processor has been developed with Samsung's 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology.
The Snapdragon 835, the protege of the Snapdragon 820, is smaller and packs more of a punch than previous chip designs; however, the technical details of the new chip design are not available at this time.
Samsung announced the mass production of 10nm FinFET hardware in October. In comparison to 14nm FinFET predecessors, the South Korean tech giant says the latest designs offer roughly a 30 percent increase in area efficiency with a performance boost of up to 27 percent, or 40 percent lower power consumption.
Jong Shik Yoon, executive vice president and head of foundry business at Samsung, said the partnership "is an important milestone for our foundry business as it signifies confidence in Samsung's leading chip process technology."
See also: Qualcomm rolls out new Snapdragon trio and wearable platform
Samsung has been both a client and partner of the US chip maker for years, and through this partnership, the latest Snapdragon 835 is far lighter and thinner than its predecessors. By reducing the size of the hardware, the newest Snapdragon chip will give vendors the chance to take advantage of more space in mobile hardware -- such as smartphones or tablets -- to slot in larger batteries for additional device life, or to make slimmer products as a whole.
According to Ben Suh, senior vice president at Samsung, the new design offers "phenomenal power and performance in comparison to competitors."
Qualcomm also says that by using 10nm FinFET technology, the chip design will also result in process improvements and "significant" advantages for battery life.
"We are excited to continue working together with Samsung in developing products that lead the mobile industry," said Kressin. "Using the new 10nm process node is expected to allow our premium tier Snapdragon 835 processor to deliver greater power efficiency and increase performance while also allowing us to add a number of new capabilities that can improve the user experience of tomorrow's mobile devices."
The Snapdragon 835 is in production now and is expected to ship commercially in devices during the first half of 2017.