A Samsung-made device bearing the model number SM-G9650 appeared in the database of benchmarking tool Geekbench earlier today, with its listing referencing its motherboard as the “sdm845,” implying that the system-on-chip (SoC) powering it may be called the Snapdragon 845. The possible handset scored 1,819 points in the benchmark’s single-core test and was awarded 4,494 points in the multi-core one, indicating that even if it truly ends up shipping with a Qualcomm-made piece of silicon called the Snapdragon 845, it won’t be a flagship offering. For reference, the Galaxy S8 models with the Snapdragon 835 have comparable single-core scores but vastly superior multi-core performance, usually being awarded over 6,000 points by Geekbench.
The SM-G9650 was sighted online mere hours after another alleged Samsung Galaxy device labeled as the SM-G9600 was listed by the same benchmark, supposedly featuring the Snapdragon 840, also according to a single reference to its motherboard. The SM-9600 recorded marginally worse scores than the SM-G9650, suggesting that the two are a couple of variants of the same product. Whereas the former’s SoC was described as a quad-core silicon running at a maximum frequency of 1.77GHz, the newly uncovered device apparently has a quad-core chip clocked at 1.78GHz, giving more credence to the theory that the two are meant to be virtually identical, and the same goes for their memory configuration, with both being listed as sporting 4GB of RAM. The final similarity between the models pertains to their operating systems as both were seemingly tested while running Android 7.1.2 Nougat.
The two devices are possibly variants of the rumored Galaxy S8 Mini or are meant to be the Galaxy S8 Lite and Galaxy S8 Plus Lite, though a recently emerged report suggested that the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) isn’t working on a smaller version of its flagship series and no concrete info on the latter has been revealed so far either. Still, the basic specifications of the possible smartphones point in the opposite direction, and that’s also true for their model numbers, with the original Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus being labeled by Samsung as the SM-G950 and SM-G955. The two listings may ultimately amount to nothing as mobile benchmarking tools aren’t particularly difficult to trick in terms of device and component names, but if the SM-9600 and SM-G9650 end up being actual products, Samsung may opt to unveil them at the upcoming iteration of IFA Berlin that’s scheduled to start on September 1.