At a time when Samsung can ill afford to make a mistake with their new Galaxy S6 flagship, people with direct knowledge have told Bloomberg that they will be using Samsung’s latest Exynos processors and bypass on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. These people said that the Snapdragon 810 overheated during Samsung’s own testing – a persistent rumor that Qualcomm vehemently denies. This is bad news for Qualcomm, as Samsung is their second largest customer accounting for 12-percent of sales last year – they saw their stock fall as much as 3.5-percent upon the rumors. Song Myung Sup, a Seoul-based analyst at HI Investment & Securities Co. said, “Samsung may release the next Galaxy S as early as March, and it can’t dare to take the risk to use any of the chips in question for its most important model.”
The question really is, how will the new Samsung Galaxy S6 be received with an Exynos chip inside rather than the popular Snapdragon brand? Qualcomm has become a household name (in techie households, anyways) and by not using their chip, customers may shy away from the Galaxy S6. The Snapdragon 810 has already found its way into the new LG G Flex 2 model set for release next month and the new Xiaomi Mi Note Pro is also packing the new Snapdragon 810. In an email to our source, a company spokesperson said, “There will be no problem with the G Flex 2 phones. We are taking every measure to ensure there will be no overheating problem.” Joy Han from Xiaomi declined to comment on whether the company is aware of any overheating issues. HTC is also on track to use the 810 in their next flagship device. This will leave Samsung, the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, as the only major player not using the Snapdragon 810.
Some of Samsung’s decision could stem from the fact that with decreased sales in smartphones, they are looking to their 40-year-old memory chip unit for earnings growth. Samsung is developing more advanced chips while at the same time getting into the production of internet-connect appliances and wearables – a market that analysts predict could be over $7 trillion by 2020. Vice Chairman Lee Jae Yong is in charge of Samsung’s shift in strategies as they try to fight off the new larger iPhone 6 and the new number one seller of smartphones in China, Xiaomi.
It is not as if the Exynos chip is anything new as Samsung has been using them for years in their devices. However, in the US, Samsung has chosen to use the Snapdragon chip – many say because it ‘plays’ nicer with the US 4G LTE networks. That could be another disaster if their new flagship would have connectivity issues in the US. Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if having an Exynos processor would prevent you from purchasing a new Samsung Galaxy S6 and WHY…as always we would love to hear from you.