It seems that the information that was published yesterday regarding a possible agreement between Samsung and Qualcomm for the mobile manufacturer to have the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor exclusively until April is not real. New information clarifies this, and also states that the HTC flagship, which would also be launched in February, would have this Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.
It won't be exclusive to Samsung
Yesterday we said that there was a possibility that Samsung had the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor exclusively until April. In fact, we said that this is why the Xiaomi Mi 5 would not be launched in January. However, it seems that ultimately it might not be so. New information affirms that it would not be the case, that it is not true that Samsung has the new processor exclusively. In fact, it not only states that, but it also says that HTC's new high-end mobile will feature this processor, with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, and that it will be launched in the first quarter. We already said that the probable date for the launch of the new HTC smartphone was precisely the same as the launch date of the Samsung Galaxy S7, February 21, 2016, so it would be clear that there would be no exclusivity until April.
Just Samsung and HTC?
However, the truth is that so far we do not know if another smartphone will be launched in the first months of 2016 with this processor. There were three smartphones that were to feature the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, the Xiaomi Mi 5, the LG G5, and the Sony Xperia Z6. The latter is claimed not to be released until June. LG's mobile would be presented in April, and the CEO of Xiaomi Mi 5 already said yesterday that the smartphone would not be one of the first smartphones to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, so it seems likely that it will not be launched in January, nor probably before April. Thus, in reality only the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the new HTC flagship would have the new processor before April. Could it be that, in reality, everything is a strategy so that Xiaomi cannot compete with Samsung by launching a mobile of a similar level even before these and with a cheaper price? With regard to the Sony Xperia Z6 and the LG G5, in reality these would arrive a few months later logically. The LG G4 was already the last flagship of the first half of 2015 to be launched, and the LG G5 is going to launch anyway before a year has passed since the launch of the last LG G4. In the case of the Sony Xperia Z6, its launch would be in June, so it does not seem that it is a matter of exclusivity of the processor, because if it were, it would be launched in April.
Is it a strategy whose objective is that Xiaomi cannot launch its flagship in January?