ces image
CES sign Vimeo

A recent report from Business Korea backs up long-standing claims that the Samsung Galaxy S9 and LG G7 may release in January, potentially during CES 2018. The technology convention takes place from Jam. 9 to Jan. 12.

Both devices have separate rumors suggesting they could be announced in January. In particular, Samsung and LG may go head-to-head in the beginning of 2018 as the first flagship devices to run the latest premium system-on-a-chip by Qualcomm. Rumors currently suggest Qualcomm may announce the Snapdragon 845 sometime in December.

Reports from May suggested that LG was working with Qualcomm to develop the Snapdragon 845 chip to get rights to bring the component to market before other manufacturers. Samsung did this with the Snapdragon 835 chip in 2017. Supplying its 10nm FinFET technology to the chip, the manufacturer claimed exclusive launch right to the chip for the Galaxy S8, which was unveiled in late March. LG announced the LG G6 in February, running the Snapdragon 821 chip from 2016. Pundits believe the outdated hardware made consumer bypass the device in favor of the Galaxy S8 and other smartphones that ran the 2017 chip. LG later released the LG V30 running the Snapdragon 835.

Rumors suggest Qualcomm may use more of Samsung’s 10nm technology on the Snapdragon 845, but there is no definitive word on whether the chip maker has an exclusive collaboration deal in pace with Samsung or LG. The chip will likely have a focus on machine learning, virtual reality and augmented reality.

While rumors have long suggested a CES 2018 launch for both the Galaxy S9 and the LG G7, Samsung and LG are better known for unveiling devices during Mobile World Congress in February.