Previous market news came out that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 will adopt a dual supplier strategy, one of which will be manufactured by Samsung 2nm. However, according to the latest news from foreign media, Qualcomm has now abandoned Samsung and replaced it with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 by Taiwan Power.
Qualcomm's original Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 is a two-standard version, one of which uses a Samsung 2-nanometer process and is named "Kaanapali S". However, the latest news pointed out that Qualcomm has been denied whether to announce the dual version of the solution at the Snapdragon peak, and Samsung has been removed from the OEM list, and the product identification codes 8850-S and 8850-T have also been removed.
If the news is true, NTD will once again become the exclusive manufacturer of Qualcomm flagship chips. Foreign media WCCFtech pointed out that with the removal of the double version tag, only a single version of SM8850 is currently left, which is expected to become the official name of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, and QRD (Qualcomm Reference Design) quotes will also increase.
Original expectations in the industry that Qualcomm intends to control the cost of Snapdragon 8 Elite chips through dual supplier strategies, because the series was originally priced at a high price. But the news shared by the whistleblower @Jukanlosreve on social media X pointed out that the "S" representing Samsung's version and the "T" identification code representing NTD version have been removed, suggesting that Qualcomm ultimately failed to implement a dual supplier strategy.
As of the writing date, Qualcomm has already removed the distinguishing identifiers for 8850-S and 8850-T. The Samsung version has now been completely removed from the current specifications, and it appears the Samsung version has been provisionally discontinued for the time… https://t.co/Ye033GyH1U pic.twitter.com/MMEFNz1032
— Jukan Choi (@Jukanlosreve) July 4, 2025
In other words, in the future, the remaining SM8850 will support various Android flagships, including the Galaxy S26 series originally planned to be adopted by Samsung. As for why Qualcomm gave up the order to Samsung, there is no clear explanation for the outside world, but it is likely to be related to the long-term yield problem.
Samsung's recent goal is to increase the yield of 2 nanometers to 50%, but to achieve the amount required for real production, it will need to reach at least 70%. Foreign media speculated that Qualcomm may have predicted that Samsung would not meet the standards, which will eventually lead to a large number of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chips producing defective products, forcing it to increase the price per chip and increase the cost pressure on customers (such as mobile phone brands). In the end, it had to give up.
Currently, there is only one version of SM8850 left, and it is expected that the estimated price of Qualcomm QRD8850 reference design chips will reach $15,000, prompting the testing costs of mobile phone manufacturers to rise again. The current stage Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 is produced only by NTION's third-generation 3nm process (N3P). Whether Samsung can re-sell the order remains to be seen.
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