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Why don't we see more chips on Samsung's silicon? Samsung doesn't even ship their own phones to the US with Samsung silicon. Is this a patent issue with the mo

Why don't we see more chips on Samsung's silicon? Samsung doesn't even ship their own phones to the US with Samsung silicon. Is this a patent issue with the modems?

wmf 6y ago
Samsung's Exynos chips have historically been slower or less power-efficient than Qualcomm Snapdragon.
xxpor 6y ago
Well, Exynos SoCs are widely panned as garbage. People in Europe regularly import HK versions of phones to get the Qualcomm version. Second, my understanding is they don't have CDMA support, which is still relevant in the US. So they either use Snapdragons, or pay Qualcomm for the patents and then go make a new SoC. I guess it's easier to just pay Qualcomm for the Snapdragons.
- josh3736 6y ago
  > my understanding is they don't have CDMA support, which is still relevant in the US. Not for long. Verizon is shutting down their CDMA network at the end of the month. But yeah, Exynos is garbage.
  - xxpor 6y ago
    Wow, that's wild. My first cell phone had brand-new (at the time) EVDO support. It was awesome, you could download songs, use WAP, etc. I can't believe I've actually seen the beginning and end of a full generation :) I also still can't believe the iPhone launched without 3G support!
    - joecool1029 6y ago
      >I also still can't believe the iPhone launched without 3G support! The original iPhone also shipped without CDMA support. (no 1X, was GSM-only)
ksec 6y ago
1. Samsung Silicon uses Samsung Foundry, there is a yield / quality / capacity / performance issue. 2. Qualcomm patents on CDMA and having much better modem. 3. Qualcomm's GPU being better than ARM Mali and CPU being better than Stock ARM ( Samsung ) implementation. But All of these are changing and Samsung wants to succeed in these areas. Foundry is catching up a little bit, so may be a little more than 1 year behind in TSMC in terms of league edge and capacity. ( Forget about their goals and Roadmap as well as investors notes they are even worst than Intel ). They have signed a partnership agreement with AMD bringing RDNA to Mobile. Their Modem is improving with each generation, and the patents issues has been sorted out recently. ( Which is pretty much the same deal as Apple ) It will take some time. 2021 Exynos may be a little too early so 2022 seems like a safe bet. Although Qualcomm isn't sitting still either.

Why don't we see more chips on Samsung's silicon? Samsung doesn't even ship their own phones to the US with Samsung silicon. Is this a patent issue with the modems?

wmf 6y ago

Samsung's Exynos chips have historically been slower or less power-efficient than Qualcomm Snapdragon.

xxpor 6y ago

Well, Exynos SoCs are widely panned as garbage. People in Europe regularly import HK versions of phones to get the Qualcomm version. Second, my understanding is they don't have CDMA support, which is still relevant in the US. So they either use Snapdragons, or pay Qualcomm for the patents and then go make a new SoC. I guess it's easier to just pay Qualcomm for the Snapdragons.

josh3736 6y ago
> my understanding is they don't have CDMA support, which is still relevant in the US. Not for long. Verizon is shutting down their CDMA network at the end of the month. But yeah, Exynos is garbage.
- xxpor 6y ago
  Wow, that's wild. My first cell phone had brand-new (at the time) EVDO support. It was awesome, you could download songs, use WAP, etc. I can't believe I've actually seen the beginning and end of a full generation :) I also still can't believe the iPhone launched without 3G support!
  - joecool1029 6y ago
    >I also still can't believe the iPhone launched without 3G support! The original iPhone also shipped without CDMA support. (no 1X, was GSM-only)

ksec 6y ago

1. Samsung Silicon uses Samsung Foundry, there is a yield / quality / capacity / performance issue. 2. Qualcomm patents on CDMA and having much better modem. 3. Qualcomm's GPU being better than ARM Mali and CPU being better than Stock ARM ( Samsung ) implementation. But All of these are changing and Samsung wants to succeed in these areas. Foundry is catching up a little bit, so may be a little more than 1 year behind in TSMC in terms of league edge and capacity. ( Forget about their goals and Roadmap as well as investors notes they are even worst than Intel ). They have signed a partnership agreement with AMD bringing RDNA to Mobile. Their Modem is improving with each generation, and the patents issues has been sorted out recently. ( Which is pretty much the same deal as Apple ) It will take some time. 2021 Exynos may be a little too early so 2022 seems like a safe bet. Although Qualcomm isn't sitting still either.