14 DAY TRIAL // While the tech world is hotly anticipating the Galaxy Note 5, Samsung is already busy working on and testing next year’s Galaxy S7 flagship.
The handset is seven months away from being unveiled at MWC 2016 and Samsung has recently been said to be testing models with both Qualcomm and Exynos processors under the hood. Which is a very interesting tidbit to mull over.
Is it possible that Samsung is considering going back into the arms of Qualcomm with its next-gen flagship, the Galaxy S7? This is indeed a possibility, even though Exynos processors have been proven quite capable of handling the duties on board a premium device like the Galaxy S6.
So what are the reasons why Samsung might consider taking up Qualcomm’s SoCs once again?
Samsung might go back to its old partner
For starters, the US chip giant is readying the Snapdragon 820, which is going to be a platform using the company’s own custom made cores dubbed Kyro. Although a recent rumor states that the Snapdragon 820 is bound to be plagued by the same overheating issues as the Snapdragon 810, we don’t really think this will be the case.
So if the Snapdragon 820 ends up outperforming Samsung’s Exynos chips, the Korean tech giant will ultimately have to go back to Qualcomm in order to offer the highest standard available on the market to customers.
But there’s another pretty valid reason why Samsung could be considering taking Qualcomm back - money.
Despite its successful flagship launch, Samsung has been seeing declining profits, and the reason for this happening is quite paradoxical. Apparently, the Korean tech giant did a poor job at anticipating just how popular the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge would turn out to be.
So, in order to keep up with demand, the company had to invest more money. And the theory goes that, in order to meet production requests for the Galaxy S7, Samsung might have to outsource the S7 processors to Qualcomm.
Not to mention that Samsung will also be busy taking component orders from Apple, including for displays and DDR4 RAM. As you can see, Samsung will be entirely booked, and by Christmas season, if not even before, the Korean tech giant would have to turn its attention to the Galaxy S7 if it has any hope of sticking to schedule and unveil the flagship at MWC 2016 in February.
What will Samsung choose?
Outsourcing processors to Qualcomm wouldn’t be something the company’s investors would like very much, but in the end, it all comes down to economics.
If Samsung focuses on working for Qualcomm and Apple, instead of putting thought and effort into implementing its Exynos processors, the company might have a chance to cover 4% profit loss and end the year well. The plethora of Android smartphones bundling Qualcomm processors will certainly bring about a lot of cash in Samsung’s treasury.
With the S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5, which are expected to take advantage of Exynos processors, Samsung will have its hands full in the manufacturing department, leaving little time for the Galaxy S7. So the Korean tech giant might just bite the bullet and turn to Qualcomm once again.