Update: This rumor turns out to be true! Xiaomi, Motorola, and Oppo are the first three companies to adopt this new chipset, actually named Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, one of five upgrades for the Galaxy S22!

Samsys is the first of three companies to use this new chipset.

Samsung's Galaxy S22 will be announced in February and will be one of the first handsets to utilize Qualcomm's upcoming chipset Snapdragon 898 in most regions.

However, according to leaker Digital Chat Station, it will not be the first Snapdragon 898 handset, claiming that both Motorola and Xiaomi could beat Samsung with handsets "at the end of the year."

Smartphone fans should not be surprised to see Xiaomi in the mix. The company's success can be attributed in part to its history of cornering the budget market by being the first to adopt new hardware for its flashy flagships. In fact, the Xiaomi Mi 11 was the first phone to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, which was introduced in December 2020.

Motorola, however, is a surprise. In recent years, the manufacturer has been well known for its cheap and cheerful budget handsets. It also has more premium models, but these flagships are not known for being the first to go on sale, like Xiaomi's handsets.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 898 (or whatever it will eventually be called) is expected to follow the Snapdragon 888 and 888 Plus chips in nearly all flagship Android devices released in 2021 The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold is expected to follow suit. From Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 to the OnePlus 9, even if the Pixel 6 goes its own way with a new Tensor chip, it's in everything.

So how much of an improvement will the Snapdragon 898 be? Well, leaker Ice Universe claims to have the first benchmark, and it is a bit underwhelming, offering a speed improvement of only 15% over the current generation Qualcomm chips.

In fact, as one respondent to this tweet noted, it's struggling to keep up with the Apple A14 chip used in last year's iPhone 12. [Not only are the Snapdragon 898 benchmarks (if legitimate) for an unannounced and unoptimized chip, but Apple has achieved significant performance gains by designing both hardware and software in tandem.

But if these chips aren't a quantum leap forward, should gamers rely on Apple this generation? Maybe so, but it will be worth seeing what Samsung achieves with its Exynos chips this year. Thanks to the company's partnership with AMD, we may see a chip that offers tremendous gaming performance and may even support ray tracing.

The problem is that yields on these chips are reportedly low, so getting one may be a lottery; we'll know more once Samsung's plans for 2022 are solidified.