Snapdragon 820 might be exclusive to Samsung until April

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has been rumored to arrive in two versions, one of which will feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset at the helm. But now it looks like the Korean company will be the only one to use Qualcomm's next high-end chip, at least initially.

According to a rumor out of China, Samsung will have an exclusive on the Snapdragon 820 until April. So in the first three months of next year no other smartphone manufacturer will launch a device sporting this particular SoC.

Do note however that the evidence for this is claimed to be anecdotal, and nothing more - so this is certainly a situation that may not pan out. On the other hand, if it does, then Samsung could have a competitive advantage for a few weeks, if the S7 gets unveiled (as expected) at MWC in February and then starts shipping in March.

Samsung's next flagship smartphone has been said to come with a pressure-sensitive screen (a la Apple's 3D Touch), a retina scanner, a USB Type-C port, an improved camera, and possibly expandable storage (but only for the non-curved iteration of the phone).