When the MT6797 SoC came out, there was much mirth amongst MediaTek's rivals but it turns out that Qualcomm has followed suit after all.

Qualcomm's version is called the Snapdragon 818, which will probably be a deca-core CPU. Word on the street is that the chip will depend on four low-1.2GHz Cortex-A53 power cores, two middle-range 1.6GHz Cortex-A53 cores, plus four high-power cores of the 2.0GHz Cortex A72 type. It will supports LPDDR4 RAM and will run the Adreno 532 GPU.

This should mean that it can run LTE Cat-10 when that hits the shops. The chip will use 20nm process technology.

If the rumours are correct then it means that the 818 SoC will be slower than MedaTek's new chip.

Qualcomm is yet to confirm the existence of this piece of silicone, so it is all just rumours. However if it is true, it does mean that MedaTek's effort was a lot more important than many of its rivals admitted. .