Open Thread: The race to the first Snapdragon 820 phone — Have your say!


Smartphone buyers are now smarter than they’ve ever been before. Buyers will now know what processor, how much RAM, and almost every other spec bit there is to know about a device.

This makes it imperative for smartphone manufacturers to stay on top of their game and come out with the latest technology. Very often, this means releasing a smartphone with the newest processor — before any other phone maker gets to do the same. And it is a loop that never ends.

The smartphone market is, you can say, at the starting point of that loop right now. Qualcomm is set to announce the Snapdragon 820, and manufacturers, in turn, are waiting to leap on to the SoC and announce a phone of their own.

xiaomi mi5 leaked

Previously leaked photo of an alleged Xiaomi Mi 5

At least five manufacturers — Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo, Letv, OPPO — seem to be in the mood to be among the first ones to have a Snapdragon 820 phone of their own.

Gizchina News of the week


Xiaomi’s Mi 5 seems closer to a launch than any of the other phones from the respective brands… but there could be a twist with OPPO finally putting together a Snapdragon 820-powered Find 9. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 will most certainly have an SD820 in at least one of the many variants, while Letv has extensively teased a Snapdragon 820 phone (in fact, they started much before anyone else).

OPPO have a knack of having a ‘firsts’ record; the Find 5 was the world’s first 1080p phone, while the Find 7 was the first 2K display smartphone.

Have Your Say

Who do you think will be the first to release a Snapdragon 820 phone? Xiaomi seems the most likely to us with the Mi 5 due for a launch in the coming months, that is unless OPPO decide to pull off something special before that.

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Previous Xiaomi Mi 5 leaks with a couple important bits
Next No. 1 D5 smartwatch boasts 3G, WIFI and Android OS

19 Comments

  1. saor
    December 7, 2015

    Question should be will I be able to afford a snapdragon 820 phone ? Answer probably not!

    • balcobomber25
      December 7, 2015

      Depends what your budget is and what phones you like. Smartphone prices have been pretty consistent for the last few years, it doesn’t change much because of new technology. SD820 phones will be from around $330 for a Xiaomi Mi5 to $700 for an Oppo Find 9.

      • vijay sud
        December 7, 2015

        $330 would be good for me..provided Mi5 gets a dual SIM and a really good camera.

        • balcobomber25
          December 7, 2015

          Dual sim maybe, maybe not you never know these days with dual sim. Really good camera it will have.

          • Luis Martinez
            December 8, 2015

            Can’t wait to see what Vivo does with the sd820. Xshot and xplay models here I come.

        • Airyl
          December 7, 2015

          Good camera, yes. Dual sim, no.

          • Tajwar
            December 7, 2015

            It though “could have a hybrid slot” then I remembered the Mi 5 is in the Mi lineup so no.pe(no hope).

      • Alexis T
        December 8, 2015

        why would Oppo sell their Find 9 $700 since they sold their Find 5 and 7 at the right price ($450) ?

        • balcobomber25
          December 8, 2015

          Not in my country, in my country the cheapest you could find the Find 7 for was around $649. In India it launched for around $600. It really depends on where you live. Even in China the launch price was 2998 yuan, which today would be $461, in 2014 when it launched and the Yuan wasn’t as weak it was $483 US.

  2. Sam
    December 7, 2015

    I’m hoping Oppo because I have been waiting so long for the Find 9. I really hope Oppo has some big plans for that phone.

  3. balcobomber25
    December 7, 2015

    I don’t really care who is first I just want one to come out so we can see if Qualcomm has better luck this go around.

  4. MattD
    December 7, 2015

    Mmm… Xiaomi is supposed to be the first thanks to its relation with qualcom, but let’s take a look to the past: Hugo Barra & co never seemed to be involved in this “I’m the first” war… They usually take their time to launch something “worth the wait” (words they used recently, and i don’t see why they should if they were to launch it in a matter of weeks). Their products never really need such tipe of hype imho, and usually they tend to hide everything possible: i mean, they came out of nowhere with note 2, and it was a game breaker.

    So… Who’s next? Oppo just launched that… Thing… With the mt6752, and no other rumor came out after this.
    On the other hand oppo has been silent too about find 9, but haven’t teased so much something else in the meantime… Plus, qualcom is in debt with oppo because they used a lot of sd615 that, otherwise, would have gone where they belong (trash) 😀
    Then comes zte… Have you seen the pics of their tvs? There’s a nubia phone inside one of them! And nubia, on xiaomi’s opposite, tend to use such type of hype…
    Last, letv… They’re new so every hype is good hype, they have no problem to pay a chip at full price, and they really wants to ride the wave while they’re on top…

    For me, it’s a thing between nubia and Letv (with the latter on top), while oppo is a possible outsider

  5. Muhammad Yasir
    December 7, 2015

    i love Xiaomi , take NOTHING away from that …

    BUT

    i would LOVE to see an unknown BUT budget friendly company , launch the FIRST EVER 820 phone for UNDER $300 !

    boy, it would be a purist’s / neutral’s ULTIMATE wet dream !

    • Alexis T
      December 8, 2015

      C’mon muhammad, you’ll just have to wait a few months till the SD820 phones price drop ^^ OR you may start searching for a new job right now OR politely ask your wife to enjoy remunerated sexual intercourse OR sell your children’s viable organs. BTW i hope the best for you. Have fun.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        December 8, 2015

        *cringes* (on the children and wife part) , that kinda made me uncomfortable :/

        but im NOT asking for the SD 820 to stoop to MY pricing standards , na-uh !
        all im talking about is disturbing and upsetting the market dynamics in a positive , entertaining and somewhat beneficial manner !

  6. Tomas Thorley
    December 7, 2015

    Honestly I do not care who is first… I want a phone with 4000mah+ battery or I am out. Huawei Mate 8 looks reallly really good, I am so tempted to preorder, but I kind of want to see how SD820 compares.

  7. Mark
    December 8, 2015

    I believe VIVO Xplay 3S was the first with a 2K display Yash 🙂

    • Max
      December 13, 2015

      true that.

  8. AneynAmi
    December 9, 2015

    “MTK & Open Source” rocks ???