Samsung's mobile business reportedly forms its own chipset division

What you need to know

• Samsung has apparently created a new chipset division within its mobile business.
• The company's smartphone business supposedly wants to cut its reliance on Samsung System LSI, which builds the Exynos processors.
• In 2025, Samsung could release the first chipset produced by the new unit.

Rumors about Samsung's plan to switch to Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors for its smartphone lines globally have already circulated online, but a new report suggests the company is not exactly sticking to a third-party chipset brand forever.

The Elec reports that Samsung has created a new unit within its mobile business (Mobile eXperience) that will be responsible for building processors for its smartphones (via SamMobile). This backs up earlier reports that Samsung is dropping its in-house Exynos brand from future Galaxy phones, beginning with the Galaxy S23 series.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously speculated that Samsung would forego Exynos in favor of Qualcomm's processor for all Galaxy S22 successors globally. This means Qualcomm will be the sole supplier of chipsets for Galaxy devices once the change takes effect.

Samsung apparently wants to break its dependence on System LSI, which manufactures the Exynos processor, for the time being, and understandably so. It's a widely accepted opinion in the tech community that Exynos lags behind Snapdragon in terms of performance, thermal management, power efficiency, and battery life.

Currently, the best Samsung phones are powered by Exynos chipsets in select markets such as Europe. Meanwhile, Snapdragon processors are standard on Galaxy phones sold in North America, South Korea, Australia, India, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. Starting next year, all models sold globally will use only Qualcomm chipsets.

However, the new report indicates this will only be the case for the next few years, at the very least. According to The Elec, the first smartphone models with chipsets manufactured by the new unit will be released in 2025. It's unclear whether this will be the standard for all models sold globally or just in certain markets.

The report states that Won-Joon Choi, Samsung Electronics' executive vice president, will lead the new unit. He was named head of the Flagship Product R&D Team and Technology Strategy Team at Samsung MX business in early December.