Two versions of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 were reportedly under development, with one version fabricated on Samsung’s 2nm GAA process said to have the codename ‘Kaanapali S.’ Unfortunately, Qualcomm is rumored to have second thoughts on announcing two variants of its flagship SoC during the Snapdragon Summit scheduled to be held from September 23, which is why the San Diego has not just dropped the Korean foundry as its partner, but has removed the 8850-S & 8850-T identifiers. Assuming this rumor checks out, it will be yet another year where TSMC commands exclusive control over fulfilling orders for its customer.
With the identifiers removed, there should only be a single Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, which will be referred to as SM8850, with the Qualcomm Reference Design also picking up in price
For a while, we believed that Qualcomm could have kept its flagship chipset pricing slightly under control, especially for how much it charged its Snapdragon 8 Elite. Sadly, the company cannot maintain a dual-sourcing approach because a rumor shared by the tipster @Jukanlosreve on X reveals that the 8850-S and 8850-T identifiers are no longer present, with the letter ‘S’ denoting a Samsung-made SoC, while the ‘T’ indicates a solution from TSMC.
With these removed, only the SM8850 is expected to power upcoming flagships, including Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series, which was previously mentioned to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 mass produced on the 2nm GAA node. No reason was mentioned why Qualcomm will no longer place orders on the aforementioned manufacturing process, but there is a possibility that Samsung could not scale past the age-old yields problem.
During the prototype mass production phase of the Exynos 2600, which kicked off last month, Samsung was working with two divisions to ensure that it can bring its 2nm GAA yields up to 50 percent in the coming months. Unfortunately, to make mass production viable, that yield figure needs to be at least 70 percent, and Qualcomm may have had the foresight to determine that Samsung might not achieve that goal. This means that a larger number of ‘defected’ Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 units would be produced, forcing the company to raise the price per units for its partners for the non-binned parts.
With the SM8850 the only version to exist, the Qualcomm Reference Design chip, also known as QRD8850, is estimated to fetch $15,000, making it more expensive for phone makers to test their upcoming flagships. For now, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 will exclusively be mass produced on TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process, also known as ‘N3P’ and if Samsung decides to enter the fold again, we will inform our readers, so stay tuned.
