Galaxy S23: Samsung moves globally from Exynos to Snapdragon

Samsung will no longer rely on its own Exynos processor for the “Galaxy S23” next year, but will rely on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips worldwide. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed this in an interview with analysts to announce the quarterly numbers. Does this also mean that the AMD partnership is about to end?

Qualcomm and Samsung have signed a new licensing deal that will extend the deal signed in 2009, which would have expired at the end of 2023 but has now been extended to the end of 2030. The contract falls under the company’s QTL (Qualcomm Technology License) division and covers technologies, standards and products in the 3G domains. And 4G, 5G and the future 6G. QTL President Alexander Rogers said the deal would proceed under the same non-public terms, such as royalties and related costs, as before.

Amon confirms Snapdragon for Galaxy S23

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has given a crucial indication that Samsung is giving up its Exynos processors for its upcoming Galaxy flagship and other potential devices. As can be seen in three places in Earnings Call Transcript (PDF) for the third quarter of 2022, Snapdragon processors will power new Samsung flagships globally for several years. So far, the chips have been used mainly in North America, while the Exynos analogue will be received in Europe and Germany.

1) We are very pleased to announce that Qualcomm and Samsung have entered into a new multi-year agreement starting in 2023, to expand the use of Snapdragon platforms for future Samsung Galaxy product installments globally.

2) We’ve been valued over the many years of this relationship, if you remember, a stake of roughly 40% off their in-house solution with the Galaxy S22, which was before this agreement was signed. Our share has increased to around 75%. And now we’re announcing a multi-year agreement to operate Samsung Galaxy smartphones globally.

3) The way you should think is that Snapdragon will power their Galaxy product line, and their flagship Galaxy products. And what I can say at this point is that we were 75% on the Galaxy S22 before the agreement. You must be thinking that we will be much better than the Galaxy S23 and beyond. It is a multi-year agreement. And that’s probably what I can tell you. You should consider running their device globally.

Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated

Snapdragon is currently 75%

In his opening speech, Amon has already confirmed that Samsung will use the Snapdragon platform globally for Galaxy products from the premium segment from next year. When asked, Amon explained that the proportion of Galaxy products has gone from 40 to 75 percent over the past few years. The new agreement is designed to equip Galaxy smartphones globally for several years. Amon explained that from the Galaxy S23 onwards, you’ll be in a much better position than the current 75 percent.

Only one generation with RDNA 2 GPU

The decision by Samsung comes as a surprise as the Exynos 2200, a proprietary chip, was developed specifically for the Galaxy S22, which features the Xclipse 920 GPU, the first graphics unit based on the RDNA 2 architecture from a partnership with AMD. . In contrast, Samsung abandoned its Austin CPU development the previous year and went back to standard Arms cores. The new agreement with Qualcomm indicates that the collaboration with AMD is about to end after just one generation.

Is the AMD partnership about to end?

The new agreement with Qualcomm leaves little room for Samsung to continue its own chips with AMD GPUs and use them in other products instead, since it also includes computers, tablets, extended reality and other segments in addition to Galaxy smartphones. However, Samsung does not have an exclusive contract with Qualcomm, so Exynos chips and AMD GPUs can still be used in individual products. However, it is questionable whether the expensive dedicated GPUs are worth it apart from the leading manufacturers.