The Korean behemoth’s semiconductor and smartphone divisions work independently. They have a buy-sell relationship. The smartphone unit uses Exynos processors from its sister firm in its products. But Exynos chipsets have historically underperformed rivaling solutions from the likes of Qualcomm and MediaTek, particularly in the flagship segment. They are less power-efficient and have always had issues with thermal management. Perhaps the problem is with the semiconductor division’s chip fabrication tech. It manufactured Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC last year and the chipset had similar issues as well. Samsung has been somehow dragging along despite the troubles. However, the recent GOS (Game Stabilizing Service) controversy, where the company was found to be throttling the performance of several popular apps and games in the name of battery life and thermal management, has forced it to make some changes. Its smartphone unit now wants to develop custom processors for its products. Of course, the smartphone division will work together with the semiconductor unit on the project. The company has reportedly already formed a 1000-personnel strong joint force for it. But the custom processor may not be called Exynos. Samsung likely believes users may not trust the Exynos brand anymore. Instead, it would keep that name only for semiconductor chips that it makes for cars, cellular modems, and other products. “Exynos is not a simple problem because it is used for semiconductors for vehicles in addition to smartphone APs,” a Samsung official reportedly said about the matter.
Samsung is preparing for a big overhaul of its Exynos processors
Samsung has already begun preliminary work on custom processors for its smartphones. While initial rumors suggested the custom chips may only power its flagship devices, the company may stop using Exynos processors on its entire smartphone lineup down the line. It may be preparing for a big overhaul of its Exynos chip strategy. This change won’t come anytime soon though. Samsung’s first custom smartphone processor will reportedly arrive in 2025. So we may still see its flagship products using Exynos chipsets in 2023 and 2024. Perhaps the successor to this year’s Exynos 2200, which powers the Galaxy S22 series in some regions, is already in the works. It could arrive as Exynos 2300 and power the Galaxy S23 series next year. We expect to hear more about this development in the coming months.
