The Galaxy S6 Edge, and the Galaxy S6, are notable devices for Samsung not just because of what’s on the outside, but because of what’s on the inside. For the first time in years, a Galaxy S flagship has been powered by a Samsung Exynos processor regardless of where it’s to be sold. In previous devices, such as the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5, there were Exynos variants available, but not in key markets for Samsung, like North America. Samsung has always been known for manufacturing a number of parts themselves for their smartphones and tablets, but now Samsung Electronics wants to become a force to be reckoned with in the semiconductor industry.
Unlike other industries, the semiconductor industry, that being the manufacturing of memory and processors, is a tight race. Intel is the current leader of the pack, yet controls just 14% or so of the overall market. Samsung, in the past year or so, has managed to close the gap by controlling roughly 10% of the market. Memory is the main reason Samsung has become so successful in the business, producing LPDDR RAM for smartphones and tablets as well as being the only company capable of producing DRAM using a 20nm process. Manufacturing these components, rather than necessarily designing them seems to be the key to Samsung’s success, not only are they the only one capable of producing DRAM at 20nm, but they’re currently leading the pack producing the Exynos 7420 – the same chip inside the Galaxy S6 – using a 14nm FinFET process to produce a more power efficient chip that runs cooler. Meanwhile, Qualcomm can only produce the Snapdragon 810 using a 20nm process.
Samsung Electronics is looking to the future, and hopes to become the industry leader in the next five years or so, and considering the gap between them and current leader Intel is so small, it seems as though they’ll be able to do it. With PC and Laptop sales dwindling, the mobile market continues to expand and the industry will look to experienced vendors like Samsung for suppliers sooner rather than later.