Samsung has been making competitive Exynos chipsets for the past few years. However, the South Korean giant’s chip solutions have been fairly limited to in-house smartphones so far. That’s likely going to change soon as smartphone manufacturers in China scramble to release 5G smartphones in their home market.
Digitimes report that one of the top-four smartphone brands in China has decided to use Samsung’s Exynos chipset with Exynos 5100 5G modem inside its upcoming 5G smartphone. The processor is said to be the 5G capable Exynos 9630, which was recently rumored to be tested inside devices like the Galaxy A51 and the Galaxy A71 slated for release next year. Given its naming, the chipset is likely aimed at the mid-range to upper mid-range segment and will succeed Exynos 9610.
Digitimes adds that Exynos 9630 could be more competitive than similar 5G solutions from MediaTek and Qualcomm. So far, Chinese companies have more or less stuck with these two chipmakers for their chipset needs. But with Samsung’s market share falling down in the Chinese market, it looks like other manufacturers are opening up to use Exynos chipset inside their devices.
Editor’s Pick: Huawei Mate 20 X 5G update adds 30x zoom support and keeps 5G off by default
Manufacturers Want Quicker 5G Adoption
5G is going to be the next killer feature on smartphones. And China is going to be at its forefront. China already has the Axon 10 Pro 5G and the Mate 20 X 5G (goes on sale later this month) along with a slew of 5G flagships incoming in the next few months. However, the real challenge will be to offer 5G smartphones at a competitive price in the mid-range segment. The Exynos 9630 could have made that possible which is probably why one of the top Chinese manufacturers has decided to use it.
Unfortunately, Digitimes didn’t reveal the name of the handset maker. But an educated guess would be either OPPO or Vivo. Huawei doesn’t need Exynos chipsets and Xiaomi likely wouldn’t experiment with Samsung made chipsets at this stage. This leaves either OPPO or Vivo as the potential customer. Not to mention an earlier Digitimes report had said that these two manufacturers were testing sample Exynos 5G chipsets.
To recall, Exynos chipsets have been used in a few Chinese phones from brands like Meizu and Lenovo (remember the Moto Vision One with Exynos 9609?). But Samsung’s push for wider adoption of the Exynos chipsets seems to be paying off finally. The South Korean giant could further have benefitted from the recent trade war. Chinese companies would naturally want to decrease its reliance on US-based suppliers and if Samsung is offering a competitive solution, a lot of vendors might be open to using it now than ever before.
UP NEXT: Coolpad says it is ready to launch its first 5G smartphone in India
(Source)
