Digitimes are reporting that according to their sources within the supply chain for the HTC One Max, the large sized device will adopt an older Qualcomm processor, the quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ 8064 for production of its first large-size device.
Some sources are stating that HTC is being forced to use the old CPU model as it is unable to secure a sufficient supply of Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 800 processors due to a majority of Open Handset Alliance members, such as Sony, LG, Asus, Acer and even Xiaomi all deciding to utilise Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 SOCs for their upcoming flagship smartphones set to be launched in the second half of 2013.
However, other sources are stating that there is no shortage in Snapdragon 800 processors since Qualcomm has already ramped up production to meet the continual increasing demand for its SOCs. Given that HTC are having finical woes, it could simply come purely down to cost concerns.
Sources are continuing to state that the adoption of an old CPU model could undermine HTC’s brand image, and which ultimately could and will affect sales of the HTC One Max. I guess Robert Downey Junior will have his hands full trying to convince us that an older chipset is better over a new one.
Given that an old processor is being touted for the HTC One Max, would you consider buying the 5.9-inch display device?
Doesn’t the 800 feature improved battery life because of the way it handles the LTE radio? I think that this is bad news for HTC. The MAX will be DOA….
Rather than going back a few generations, why can’t HTC drop back One generation (pun intended) to use the Snapdragon 600 APQ6084T that is used in the M7 ? Surely the 600 is significantly cheaper than the 800 and wouldn’t that provide better performance than the S4 Pro ?
Motorola apparently worked some kind of magic with a 2x Krait 300 core S4 Pro variant, so it certainly doesn’t count it out in the performance race just because it’s not an 800…
However, I do think this is bad news, especially as though they’ve trickled the Krait 300 into non-600 models the Adreno 330 seems to be exclusively on the 800 and would’ve been a big help for this device.
Is there any difference in using either the S4 Pro or the 600? I would I’ll have thought they would have at least used the latter since its in the flagship model.
Off the top of my head the 600 uses LPDDR3 while the Pro uses LPDDR2
Otherwise they are pretty much identical. I think they pretty much have the same product number.
Although the Snapdragon 800 are boss, a Snapdragon S4 Pro isn’t exactly a crappy chip… As long as the performance is snappy when people demo it, I’m sure it’ll do fine still. In other news Qualcomm must be doing pretty well now…
They are doing well, but it’s more the marketing machine that is driving more awareness. Most of the popular phones over the years ran Qualcomm chips, it’s just that nobody knew about it or cared. These days with Smartphones it’s kind of like the Intel Inside business.