Samsung has been spending more to buy the application processors (AP) it uses on its phones. That’s because Samsung has backed away from using its own Exynos chips and packs more of its high-end phones with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets and low-end handsets with MediaTek’s SoCs. Samsung shipped only 13 million Exynos-powered handsets during the fourth quarter of 2023, down 48% from the fourth quarter of 2022. As a result, Samsung took in 44% less revenue from its Exynos chipsets during Q4 2023 year-over-year.
Per SamMobile, Samsung spent $8.87 billion on mobile chipsets in 2023, a 3.1% increase over what Samsung paid for these parts the previous year. Part of that increase was due to the 30% hike in chip prices that Samsung had to deal with in 2023. By using its own Exynos chips on more phones in 2024, Samsung believes that it can lower its costs. It also plans on investing money on making its Exynos chips more competitive by increasing these components’ performance and power efficiency.
Samsung could save money by replacing the MediaTek chips used on its low-priced models with its own Exynos SoCs
Samsung is packing its Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55 mid-rangers with Exynos chips and will replace MediaTek chipsets with its own Exynos APs on low-end models. This seems to contradict reports that surfaced last month saying that MediaTek was offering Samsung special deals in an attempt to get the smartphone manufacturer to use more of its chipsets on low-end Galaxy handsets.
Additionally, the rumor that Samsung will use Exynos chipsets only for its 2025 flagship Galaxy S25 series also seems less likely after last month’s news that Qualcomm and Samsung signed a multi-year pact. The deal will result in Qualcomm continuing to supply Samsung with its Snapdragon 8 series chips for Sammy’s Galaxy S flagship line.