The leaked spec for the MSM8956 and MSM8976 points to planar 28nm HPm parts rather than FinFET designs, which we find somewhat unusual. However, while the Cortex-A72 is designed with FinFET in mind, there is a remote possibility that we could see some 28nm or 20nm parts.

The 28nm process is mature, abundant capacity is available and industry sources informed us that it is significantly cheaper than 14nm/16nm for the time being (on the order of 2x-2.5), thus making it a viable option for mainstream and entry-level chips. This may be one of the reasons why some chipmakers like MediaTek will stay at 28nm for most of the year.

The MSM8956 and MSM8976 may end up with Snapdragon 618 and 620 branding respectively, but this is speculation at this point. The basic feature set is quite similar, but the MSM8956 is said to feature two Maia cores (which was ARM’s codename for the A72). The MSM8976 packs four A72 cores. The Cortex-A72 cores are clocked at 1.8GHz on both chips and they are backed by four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.2GHz.

The chips support 2x32-bit LPDDR3 at 933MHz, eMMC5.1, 1x1 802.11ac wireless and Bluetooth 4.1. The GPU of choice is the Adreno 510, capable of pumping out 2560x1600 at 60fps, or 1080p30 over Miracast. Both chips feature LTE Category 6 support.

We cannot confirm or debunk the leak, but we suggest you take it with a grain of salt. There is no launch timeframe, either. Since the Snapdragon 610 and 615 were launched in late February 2014, we should see their replacements in a few weeks.