It has been rumored for some time that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S7 smartphone will come in two different variants. A report earlier this week also claimed that Samsung is looking to launch the device in February next year. While one of the variants of the upcoming device is believed to be powered by the company’s in-house Exynos 8890 SoC featuring an octa-core CPU with Samsung’s custom Mongoose cores, another variant will reportedly be powered by Qualcomm’s much talked-about Snapdragon 820 chipset, which will come with an integrated 64-bit application processor with four custom Kryo cores, an Adreno 530 graphics processor, support for Quick Charge 3.0, along with an X12 LTE modem with support for Cat.12/13 LTE standard. Now, a report published in the Korean media seems to further lead credence to those rumors of multiple variants of the upcoming Samsung flagship, as it seemingly confirms the rumors, and even goes so far as to indicate which version is meant for which market. The report further claims that Samsung is working overtime on the thermal management of Qualcomm’s next-generation SoC, to make sure it can avoid the well-documented issues surrounding the Snapdragon 810.
Samsung of course, understandably seems a little concerned about the thermal management on the Snapdragon 820 chipset, what with all the drama surrounding its predecessor. Some reports last month also claimed that even the Snapdragon 820 won’t be immune from overheating issues, leading to thermal throttling at frequencies much lower than the stock clock-speeds on the chipset. Qualcomm however, has duly refuted such rumors. According to the latest report though, Samsung isn’t taking any chances, and is working overtime to make sure the chip runs cool, and towards that end, is even prepping to modify the microprocessor software. There are apparently also rumors that the company will even consider adding metal pipes to work as a heat-sink to dissipate any excess heat.
As for which market gets which variant, the report suggests that the two largest smartphone markets in the world, the US and China, will get the Snapdragon 820-powered variant of the Galaxy S7, whereas the company’s home base of South Korea will get the Exynos-powered variant alongside Europe and most of Asia. The report indicates that the strategy may have more to do with the company’s contract with Qualcomm than anything else, as the American chipmaker apparently went with Samsung instead of TSMC on the understanding that the South Korean consumer electronics major will allow Qualcomm to keep its near stranglehold on the North American market.