Qualcomm's next flagship processor to be called Snapdragon 888, Realme teases phone featuring it

Qualcomm’s next flagship processor in the 800 series is now a few hours away from its debut but smartphone companies cannot keep themselves quiet. Ahead of the launch, Realme India boss Madhav Sheth has teased an upcoming phone that will feature the new Qualcomm processor. But what the processor will be called has suddenly become unclear. Contrary to several previous reports that called the processor Snapdragon 875, some last-minute tips suggest it will be called Snapdragon 888. If that turns out true, a Realme phone with the Snapdragon 888 processor is in the pipeline.

Sheth wrote “Qualcomm 8_ _” on Twitter earlier in the day, pointing to an upcoming phone that will feature the next Qualcomm processor. He has not mentioned any name so far but we might have some devices to put fingers on. For instance, the Realme Ace smartphone that leaked earlier this week as the next flagship phone that the company is allegedly working on could be the one to come with the new Snapdragon 888 processor. Or it could be called the Realme X60 Pro 5G, in a succession to the X50 Pro 5G. Whatever this device may be, it will be the top-of-the-line smartphone with the new processor.

Qualcomm’s upcoming processor is going to be among the fastest ones available in the market. While the real-world performance of this processor will be only evaluated once it ships with a smartphone early next year, the synthetic tests for the prototypes of the Snapdragon 875 aka Snapdragon 888 processor are out. According to Digital Chat Station, the Snapdragon 875 processor has visited the AnTuTu benchmarking website where it scored impressive numbers.

The Snapdragon 875-powered SoC managed to score 740,000 points, which indicates a jump of 28 per cent in the performance from previous-generation Snapdragon 865 chipset. This score belongs to a prototype, meaning the final version of the chipset will likely offer better performance that will translate into higher benchmark scores on popular platforms.

Apart from Realme, there are other manufacturers that will use the next-generation chipset from Qualcomm. Prior to Realme’s announcement, brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Sony have confirmed the association. Executives from these three companies have confirmed to appear as speakers at the Qualcomm Tech Summit that kicks off in a few days in Hawaii, otherwise available to everyone digitally.

Talking specifically about Xiaomi, co-founder Lei Jun announced that there will be a “product update” that he will share after the launch of Qualcomm’s next-generation chipset. It is highly likely this update pertains to the Mi 11 series, which will be among the first ones to feature the chipset. The smartphone is expected to come with a 108MP camera, 5G support, 120Hz refresh rate, and ultra-fast charging. This also means that Qualcomm’s next chipset will be powerful enough to handle these hardware and related functionalities.

The Realme phone might end up getting these features too. We could see Realme Ace or X60 Pro 5G come bearing a 108MP primary camera, a 120Hz or higher refresh rate, up to 12GB of RAM, the recently-announced 125W Ultra Dart fast charging solution, and several optimisations to support high-end games. Sheth is staying mum about these things for now but it is only a matter of time when Realme will start teasing the next flagship and its features. Realme’s next flagship is expected to release sometime in February.