Samsung to snub Qualcomm Snapdragon in next Galaxy S - report

A report has claimed Samsung will snub Qualcomm’s Snapdrgaon chips in the next Galaxy S smartphones and use its own instead. According to the report, which quoted unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, the Korean vendor has tested the new Snapdragon 810 chip but found it overheated during the trial.

The decision could be a bit of a blow to Qualcomm, whose shares fell 1.2% at the Frankfurt stock exchange this morning. Samsung, one of Qualcomm’s biggest customers, has until now used Snapdragon chips in its best-selling smartphones. This has been the case even though it makes its own chips too- and spends an extremely large chunk of cash in doing so.

The mobile manufacturer has used its own chips in some of its lower-end handsets, as well as using such as Chinese chip-maker Mediatek for cheaper devices like the recently launched Tizen phone.

Qualcomm has been dominating the mobile chip market, making huge gains from the growth of the global smartphone business. However, as mobile device sales in mature markets are stagnating and continued competitive pressure from Apple and Xiaomi, Samsung could be looking to rely more on its own chips in the future in an attempt to generate revenue growth.

The vendor could also be forming a renewed interest and focus in the chip business with the view on the growing connected appliances and wearables market, where ever smaller chips will be required.