Qualcomm's Snapdragon 830 SoC could support up to 8GB of RAM

[jamesjerss]

The Snapdragon 820 is yet to appear in an actual device, but it seems the
industry is really wasting no time, with focus already shifting towards its
alleged successor. Of course, at this point in time it is far too early to have any
actual information on the chip, but various sources have already been tossing
around some pretty ambitious speculations. However, this might actually be the
biggest one yet – support for up to 8GB of RAM.

The official reasoning behind such a statement is that the next wave of
flagships will, in fact, incorporate enough computing and musty-tasking power
to make the extra RAM necessary. This theory comes from Chinese analyst
Pan Jiutang, who also reassures us that Qualcomm's next beastly chip will be
have a model designation "MSM8998".



Now, it goes without saying that this should be taken with a grain of salt, or
perhaps the whole salt shaker, as it is definitely way too early to have any
concrete information on the silicon. Still, it is a pretty nice opportunity to
strike up a debate on whether or not such power would be useful or practical
inside a handset.

We see little logic behind essentially closing the hardware gap between
personal computers and smartphones, as long as the current usage scenarios
are in place, but is the status quo quickly headed for a change? Could
projects like Microsoft's Continuum be a valid path to a new personal
computing revolution? What is your take on the matter?

Also, while we are still deep inside the rumor mill, it is worth noting that the
alleged Snapdragon 830 has also been involved in another recent
speculation, hinting at a new 10nm production process for the chip.