Samsung Vs. Qualcomm: Galaxy S9 Maker To Limit Snapdragon Chip Use

Samsung Electronics is not releasing its Galaxy S8 successor, the Galaxy S9, until early next year, but there’s already information that the next S-branded flagship will not rely on Qualcomm for most of its mobile processor supply. Apparently, the South Korean giant has decided to cut back on Snapdragon chips for the Galaxy S9.

Early this week, industry sources revealed to South Korean publication The Investor that Samsung will be reducing its reliance on Qualcomm’s mobile processing chips for its next flagship device following this week’s Galaxy Note 8. This means that only 40 percent of the total S9 shipments will come with Snapdragon chips. Usually, Qualcomm provides for half of the shipments, while the remaining percentage is fulfilled by Samsung’s own chip maker.

Samsung’s decision was mostly driven by the fact that Qualcomm has chosen Taiwanese company TSMC as the sole producer of its next-generation 7-nanometer chip technology. Samsung previously had that role as proven by the 14-nanometer chip technology for the Galaxy S7 and Note Fan Edition processors and the 10-nanometer technology for the Snapdragon 835 housed by the Galaxy S8.

It appears Qualcomm’s move to choose TSMC over Samsung despite its close partnership with the latter irked the South Korean tech giant. Nonetheless, it’s understandable why Qualcomm chose TSMC, since the Taiwanese firm succeeded in completing the 7-nanometer chip technology ahead of Samsung.

An industry source pointed out that Samsung’s decision to limit the use of Snapdragon chips for the Galaxy S9 could be the company’s way of showing Qualcomm what it should do in the future. “Taking advantage of its status as a key client, Samsung is putting pressure on Qualcomm for future deals,” the source said.

The news about Samsung’s decision to reduce the use of Snapdragon chips for its next flagship phone comes ahead of the smartphone maker’s Unpacked 2017 event for the Galaxy Note 8. The event is scheduled to happen this Wednesday at 11 a.m. EDT in New York. There will be a live stream of the showcase via Samsung’s own website.

Based on previous reports and rumors, the Galaxy Note 8 will have the same design elements as the Galaxy S8. It will feature a large 6.3-inch Infinity Display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 64GB base memory, a USB Type-C port, a 3,300mAh battery, dual cameras and an upgraded S-Pen stylus.

Samsung also tried to embed the fingerprint sensor into the display of the bezel-less device due to the absence of a physical home button; however, it failed to do so on time. Thus, the Galaxy Note 8 is now expected to debut with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor just like the one on the Galaxy S8. It can be noted that Samsung’s decision to place the fingerprint reader beside the back camera of the S8 received a lot of flak from consumers.

Aside from unveiling the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung is also going to talk about safety during its Unpacked event, according to TechCrunch. This is of course inspired by the events that led the company to totally recall the Galaxy Note 7 from the market after confirmation that the handset’s battery was prone to catching fire or exploding.