Samsung to use Snapdragon chips until in-house processors are ready for prime time

It has been rumored over the past year that Samsung will exclusively use a Snapdragon processor in the Galaxy S23 series. A few months ago, a Qualcomm executive confirmed that its processors would power more Galaxy smartphones in the future. Now, a report claims that Samsung will keep using Snapdragon chips until its improved Exynos chips are ready for prime time.

According to a report from Daum Money, Samsung will exclusively use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra worldwide. The report also claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip used in the Galaxy S23 series is not the regular version. Instead, it is a higher-clocked version optimized for the Galaxy S23 series, but the report doesn't reveal exactly which optimizations are applied.

Last year, Samsung used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset in a higher number of Galaxy S22 series smartphones. And the Exynos 2200 chipset that was used in the Galaxy S22 series in some markets ended up being an inferior chip. It didn't perform as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in general GPU performance. However, it was recently revealed that the Exynos 2200 performs better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in raytracing for games.

It is reported that Samsung is making structural changes to the team making its in-house chipsets. Earlier, Samsung's Exynos chips were designed by the System LSI arm of the company. However, it looks like Samsung's smartphone division created its own team of engineers to make a high-end chipset that's tailor-made for Galaxy smartphones and tablets. The first chip from that team is expected to debut in 2025.

If you are excited for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped Galaxy S23, you can pre-reserve it today and get a $50 Samsung Store credit.

Asif Iqbal Shaik - Senior Editor

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First Samsung device: T100

Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S21 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.

Phone Exynos Galaxy S23 Galaxy S23 Plus Galaxy S23 Ultra Galaxy S24 Qualcomm Samsung MX System LSI