Samsung has for many years been in the habit of launching its flagship phones in two different variants, depending on the market in which they are sold. In the U.S. market, the Galaxy phones were usually equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, while the European and Asian markets often used Samsung’s own Exynos chips.
Samsung is soon expected to announce the biggest upgrade to its Exynos chips in years. The partnership Samsung entered into with AMD a few years ago is expected to improve the chip’s graphics performance and leverage AMD’s rDNA technology for the benefit of mobile users. However, there has been some uncertainty about which devices will be equipped with the Exynos 2200, especially given the ongoing chip shortage. The latest news offers a small relief for potential Galaxy S22 buyers, but the actual availability of this chip might still be in question.
The information comes from the Dutch website LetsGoDigital, which is said to have received its information from an internal source at Samsung. It is emphasized that the Exynos chip will still be available in some markets, but that Samsung is preparing to launch phones under Qualcomm control in most markets. Initially, the information was more solid in that the improvement applied to all markets, but this was later softened to apply to “most”. So, it is conceivable that developing countries and countries with lower purchasing power could get the Exynos variant
Over the years, the Snapdragon chips have performed better in both synthetic and real-world use, which has caused outrage in markets where the phones were equipped with Samsung’s own manufactured chips. However, the main reason for the change is probably not that Samsung wants to uniformly offer consumers better performance, but rather the ongoing shortage of processors and chips worldwide. Thus, Samsung is now more dependent on Qualcomm to produce its chipsets than before, as they do not have the capacity or ability to produce their own chipsets in sufficient quantities.
I have never used a Samsung Note phone, although I am a Samsung fan because I always stick with the S series. Right now I am using the Samsung S20Fe and I am very happy with it most of the time. I have been flirting with the Note 20 ultra for a long time, apart from its old chip, it will be a perfect phone for me. The Snapdragon 888 has disappointed my expectations in terms of thermal regulation this year, although I do not play video games on my phone (that’s what the iPad is for). After all the information I have gathered, I think the new S22 will meet all my requirements and will be my next phone.
