Qualcomm confirms that the Galaxy S23 series will only use Snapdragon chips

Samsung’s in-house Exynos chipset has lost ground to its rival Qualcomm in the flagship Galaxy S series. This year only European units received the Exynos 2200, the rest were powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed that 75% of S22 drives were powered by the Snapdragon chip in a second quarter earnings call.

The CEO suggested that this proportion will increase next year, supporting analysts’ claim that the Galaxy S23 series will exclusively use Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. “[W]Before the deal they were 75% on Galaxy S22. You should think that we will be much better than that on Galaxy S23 and beyond, “said Amon.

Qualcomm’s partnership with Samsung “extends beyond Galaxy smartphones to include Galaxy books, Windows PCs, Galaxy tablets, future extended reality devices and other devices,” said Amon. The two companies have extended their patent licensing agreement until 2030, which covers 3G, 4G, 5G and (possibly) 6G devices.

Is this the end for the Exynos division? No, says Samsung, but it needs to be rearranged. In the short term, the company will look to expand Exynos chips to other form factors like wearables. There are also mid-range and entry-level Exynos chips, these will apparently remain around and Samsung is looking for new customers for them.

While it hasn’t been officially confirmed, observers say Samsung has assembled a team to develop a new smartphone chipset. This may take some time and the Galaxy S series is expected to use Snapdragon chips exclusively in 2024. According to rumors, the idea is to skip iterative improvements and use these two years to develop a new chipset from virtually scratch.

This is also only in the realm of speculation, but it looks like it may have been the upcoming Exynos 2230 5G that fell short of expectations, which in turn filled the Exynos 2300 (5G modem is built in). Samsung’s Snapdragon X70 will be used instead.

Samsung Folders have used Snapdragon chips exclusively from the start and we believe the same is true of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Fold 4. They will most likely receive the 8+ Gen 1.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be unveiled in mid-November with the first phones to use it expected in December. So the Galaxy S23 series is expected to arrive in early 2023.