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We know the coming Galaxy S23 will be powered by next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips and benchmarks show Qualcomm finally closing the gap on Apple’s A16 Bionic. Recent rumors from TheElec suggest Samsung isn’t waiting for Qualcomm to finally surpass Apple’s performance, possibly copying the Apple and Google model to design its own chips in-house.
That seems confusing, because Samsung already makes mobile chipsets with its Exynos platform. The Galaxy S22 used Exynos in certain regions, and numerous other Samsung devices use Samsung chips under the Exynos brand. There are even other phone makers like Vivo that buy Exynos chips from Samsung.
Why does Samsung sell to competitors? Because the chip division acts as its own company. Samsung Semiconductor is separated from other divisions by a legal corporate firewall, including the Samsung Mobile Experience division that designs and manufactures smartphones, tablets and wearables.
This time, the phone team brings the chips
What makes this new rumor interesting is that Samsung Mobile Experience is taking more direct responsibility for the production of the new chips. In the past, Exynos chips were designed in collaboration with the Samsung System LSI group within Samsung Semiconductor. Now rumors suggest that the same group that designs the phones will design the mobile platform that powers them.
Korean news site TheElec says the group will be led by Choi Won-joon, who came to Samsung from Qualcomm. By moving chip design into the same division as phone design, Samsung acts more like Apple and Google, each designing chips for their flagship smartphones.
Apple makes the A16 Bionic chipset for its iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Google makes the Tensor G2 chipset for its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. When we say Apple makes the A16 Bionic, we really mean that Apple designed its own platform and that a manufacturer produces the chips in a semiconductor foundry.
Get excited for the Galaxy S25 (if it’s even called that)
Samsung is in a unique position as the only major phone maker that produces phones and also runs a chip-making foundry, but those two sides of the company were completely separate. Samsung might as well have bought its Exynos chips from Qualcomm.
Samsung is expected to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon for now, but the Galaxy S25 (if naming conventions continue) will use a chipset Samsung designed specifically for that phone.
That will put Samsung’s new internal mobile platform in direct competition with an iPhone 16 Pro at launch in February 2025 and an iPhone 17 Pro later in the year. The former phone could use an Apple A18 chipset and the latter could introduce an Apple A19, if the branding continues.
Analysis: A Galaxy S25 with Samsung chips will be better
Instead of developing unique features, Samsung can focus entirely on brute force to beat Apple in benchmarking
The development of chip hardware and new smartphones does not always take place simultaneously. They are not closely related under the current Samsung/Qualcomm relationship.
When Google makes its Pixel 7 phone, it may change production of the Tensor G2 chip to encourage and enable new features as they are made. Google’s photo blur, one of our favorite new features in the Pixel 7 family, is exclusive to that device because it’s somehow enabled by the Tensor G2 chip. Whatever a phone needs for photo blur to work, it’s exclusively in the Tensor G2.
That’s the kind of synergy we hope Samsung will create. More direct interaction between the chip design team and the phone team, with no bureaucracy between companies hindering development, will hopefully help the company create a mobile platform with truly unique features.
Unfortunately, it’s more likely that Samsung is targeting Apple with its development model, not Google. Apple Bionic chips are the performance crown for mobile benchmarks. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 comes very close to beating Apple performance, but Samsung isn’t close. Samsung wants its Galaxy S to be the most powerful phone money can buy.
Instead of developing unique features, Samsung can focus entirely on brute force to beat Apple in benchmarking. The company was disappointed that the Exynos platform failed to beat Apple for years, so its main goal could be benchmark score victory. Hopefully Samsung remembers other priorities, such as efficient power management and innovative features, and doesn’t just build another big engine.