Samsung wants to use its own smartphone application processors (APs) more often. The reason behind the incorporation of its Exynos chips in its Galaxy lineup is that the price of chips keeps going up.
According to a Samsung report, their mobile device division spent a lot of money on APs in 2023. This cost has been rising for the past few years. Samsung blames rising prices from Qualcomm and MediaTek, the leading AP makers.
In 2022, Samsung used its own Exynos chip in the Galaxy S22 phones. However, there were problems with games running slow and phones getting too hot. Because of this, Samsung switched to Qualcomm chips for the S23 phones in 2023, which increased their costs.
Based on a Canalys report, Samsung Semiconductors shipped 13 million smartphones with its chipsets in Q4 2023, 48% less than in Q4 2022. As a result, the company earned USD 5 billion in the last quarter from smartphone chipsets. This was a 44% drop in revenue compared to Q4 of 2022.
Samsung plans to use their Exynos chips in many more phones. 2024 marks the start of this initiative. They’ve already started by using the Exynos 2400 chip alongside Qualcomm chips in the Galaxy S24 series. This marked a return of the chips after a 2-year hiatus. In Kenya, the base and Plus models ship with Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chipset. However, the Ultra has Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Exynos Exclusive Processor for S25
The shipment of Samsung phones with its chipsets is expected to increase in subsequent quarters of the year. This will allow the phone maker to compete better in the AP market. Use of own parts will also cut costs.
Industry insider Sammobile has hinted that the S25 series will exclusively have Exynos chipsets when released next year.
The Korean company has also been using fewer Exynos SoCs in mid-range and low-end devices than it did a few years ago. This is set to change. They’re planning to use Exynos chips in more mid-range and lower-priced phones. These are phones which previously used MediaTek chips.
