CNETAnalysis: If you thought all the Galaxy S4 fun was over, think again. We now have confirmation from Qualcomm regarding what kind of chip it will pack for one variant of Samsung’s recently announced flagship device.” We’re not talking about the whopping 1.6GHz 8-core Exynos 5 Octa branded by Samsung – this is the quad-core chip that’s also part of the equation. “We are proud to say that the newest Snapdragon 600 processor is at the heart of the Galaxy S4 in select regions,” Qualcomm said in a press release. You read right: that’s the quad-core 1.9GHz Krait CPU announced by Qualcomm at CES 2013 . Rival HTC, by the way, snatched the Snapdragon 600 for its own One smartphone, though the chip is officially clocked at 1.7GHz for that device. S4 qualified Word swirled yesterday that the quad-core chip making its way to the S4 was the Snapdragon S4 Pro, but that no longer seems to be the case. While we’re still waiting on official confirmation from Qualcomm, Ars Technica reported it received an email from the chip maker saying that Galaxy S4s packing Snapdragon 600s are bound for the U.S. Whether other regions will receive these versions of the phone as well, we don’t yet know. One notable perk of the 600 is that it offers 40 percent better battery life than the Snapdragon S4 Pros on the market now. For the Galaxy S4, a phone with an electrifying Full HD Super AMOLED display and the host to a basketful of snappy features, reliable battery life is a must. To the Ex-nth degree Samsung is feeding off the momentum it built in New York by announcing today that mass production for the Exynos 5 Octa will begin in the second quarter of the year. The chip is built on ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture – four powerful Cortext-A15 CPUs are matched by four power efficient Cortex-A7 chips. Samsung must have heard the call for better battery life in its devices because itR! 17;s trying to minimize the drainage of the Exynos through the chip’s design while also loading it with enough juice to power high-end phones (like the Galaxy S4) and features such as jewel-like displays. Production of the Exyno 5 Octa puts it on track for the S4′s April 26 release, so here’s hoping Samsung is able to get those chips popping well before shipments need to start rolling out.
