Samsung is the biggest smartphone maker that uses Qualcomm’s processors
Over the past few weeks, there have been several reports that Samsung was planning to drop Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 810 processor from its forthcoming flagship Galaxy S6 due to concerns about overheating. Reports suggest that the Korean company will use its in-house 64-bit Exynos 7420 processor in the Galaxy S6. The U.S. chipmaker may just have confirmed the rumors in its latest quarterly earnings call.
Qualcomm indirectly mentions Galaxy S6?
On Wednesday, Qualcomm released its fiscal first-quarter results. The company surprisingly lowered its 2015 revenue guidance. One of the reasons the San Diego-based company cut its guidance was that its “Snapdragon 810 processor will not be in the upcoming design cycle of a large customer’s flagship device.” Of course, “a large customer” could be any smartphone vendor and “flagship device” could mean any number of phones.
But there are reasons to believe that the manufacturer is Samsung, and the device is Galaxy S6. The Korean electronics giant is expected to unveil Galaxy S6 at the Mobile World Congress on March 2. Samsung is the biggest smartphone maker that uses Qualcomm’s processors. And the manufacturer is large enough for Qualcomm to cut its 2015 revenue guidance.
Galaxy S6 with Exynos 7420 gets benchmarked
Other manufacturers have announced that they were ready to use Snapdragon 810 in their upcoming devices. LG G Flex 2 and Xiaomi’s Mi Note Pro will both feature the Snapdragon 810 processor. Others such as OnePlus have delayed the production of their new devices, giving Qualcomm some time to resolve the overheating issue. So, the only “large customer” left is Samsung. The world’s largest smartphone maker cannot afford to delay its flagship launches as it continues to lose market share.
What’s more, the Galaxy S6 running Exynos 7420 processor (rather than Snapdragon 810) recently appeared on the Geekbench Benchmark. For a long time, Qualcomm had an advantage of a superior LTE integration with its Snapdragon processors. But Samsung has reportedly developed its own ultra-fast LTE chip. The Exynos 7420 is expected to come with an integrated LTE Cat.9 modem and Tri-Band Carrier Aggregation.
