The Galaxy S8 has started shipping worldwide, and early predictions have it that Samsung has a huge hit on its hands with its latest flagship.
And while the internet has been abuzz with rumours in the months leading up to the phone's launch, and is now similarly abuzz with reviews and praise for the handset, there's already news of a follow-up starting to trickle through.
Yes, it seems Samsung and Qualcomm are already working on starting development on a Snapdragon 845 chipset that will likely be used to power the Galaxy S9.
That's according to Aju Business Daily, as reported by The Investor, which claims the chip is "highly likely" to be called the Snapdragon 845 and that it will be manufactured by either Samsung or Taiwanese firm TSMC.
Samsung already manufactures Qualcomm's current top-end chip, the Snapdragon 835, which is used in the Galaxy S8 in some territories and comes built on the super-efficient 10-nanometer process developed by Samsung.
But Sammy recently unveiled a new second-generation 10-nanometer technology which is said to come with big upgrades including a increase in processing speed of 10%.
The new technology is also said to consume 15% less energy than the current 10nm process used by the Snapdragon 835.
It's highly likely, then, that the second-generation process will be used to develop the Snapdragon 845 (if that is what it ends up being called).
That should make for one incredibly fast phone, seeing as the 835 already offers 27% faster processing speed and 30% more energy efficiency than the previous 14-nanometer process used to build older chips.
It's no surprise Samsung is already working on developing a new chipset, considering the newly unveiled 10nm process, and we could even see the chip arrive in the oft-rumoured 'Galaxy X' foldable phone that the company is said to be working on.
At this point, however, nothing has been confirmed, with Samsung yet to comment on the Snapdragon 845 rumours, so take it all with the usual pinch of salt for now.
