Is the Samsung Galaxy S23 about to get gaming phone credentials?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 is one of the most hotly anticipated phones of 2023. It's predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 and its bigger brother, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, were widely regarded as some of the best phones you could buy.

Now, hints are dropping that suggest Samsung's new flagship could be a challenger, not just for best Android phone, but for best gaming phone. The newly released Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 could well make its way into the new devices, bringing a host of gaming credentials along with it.

The new chipset features a host of gaming-centric features, such as improved ray tracing, faster rendering for enhanced graphics, and faster CPU performance overall. It marks a new era for Qualcomm's processing technology, succeeding the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 that came before it. 

"But wait," I hear you cry, "Samsung wasn't even announced as one of the manufacturers using the new chipset."

True. But that doesn't mean they aren't going to. As part of yesterdays launch event, Samsung announced an official partnership with Snapdragon Pro Series – a series of competitive e-sports tournaments hosted by Snapdragon.

In their announcement tweet, Snapdragon said, "ICYMI, [Samsung] is now the official presenting partner of the Snapdragon Pro Series. There's no better combo than Snapdragon Elite Gaming and Samsung flagship smartphones and we are so excited for you to experience it."

It was later retweeted by Samsung, who said, "Prepare to play on a whole new level."

Now, this might just be Samsung furthering their affiliation with e-sports. But it doesn't feel like that. This feels much more significant. 

Speculation is already flying online, too. Respected leaker, Ice Universe, has shared a Geekbench score for a European Samsung Galaxy S23 variant, which shows it using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. That's a big deal, as the Exynos chipset used in the EU market previously was riddled with issues. And, not only is this getting the new chipset, but Ice mentions that this is a high-frequency version which will be exclusive to Samsung.