Samsung’s new Galaxy products to use MediaTek, Qualcomm APs

Samsung ‘Exynos 2400’

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to use mobile application processors (APs) from the U.S.’s Qualcomm Inc. and Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. for its upcoming mobile devices. The move could slow the expansion of Samsung‘s own AP, Exynos, which saw a resurgence with its inclusion in the Galaxy S24 series earlier in 2024.

According to industry sources on Monday, the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ AP is likely to be included in the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, which is slated for release in 2025. It will be the first time that the Galaxy Tab S series will be equipped with Dimensity.

APs are the main computational processing units that serve as the “brains” of mobile products such as smartphones and tablets. They are considered a key component that determines the performance of a device.

The inclusion of MediaTek products in the Galaxy Tab S series is attributed to the rapidly increasing costs of Qualcomm APs. But the top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is expected to continue using Qualcomm products, as was the case with its predecessor.

Sources said that Samsung is still undecided about the AP for the most basic Galaxy Tab S10, debating between Dimensity and Exynos. If MediaTek’s Dimensity is used for the basic model, Exynos‘s market share is likely to shrink even further, which could in turn weaken Samsung’s product cost competitiveness.

According to Samsung‘s 2023 business report, the cost of purchasing mobile AP solutions from Qualcomm and MediaTek totaled 11.73 trillion won ($8.50 billion) in the year, a 3.02 percent increase from the previous year’s figure of 11.38 trillion won.

There are also issues even if Exynos is used. It could appear as an admission that Samsung‘s own AP is inferior to those from Qualcomm and MediaTek, which are used in high-end products.

It is also reported that the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 6 series, set to be released in July 2024, will use Qualcomm products exclusively instead of Exynos, contrary to initial expectations. This will make it difficult for Exynos to continue its market share recovery that it began with the Galaxy S24 series.

Samsung adopted ’Exynos 2400‘ for its first AI smartphone, the Galaxy S24 series, which was earlier in the year. It is included in the Galaxy S24 standard and plus models released in Korea, while the ultra model uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. As a result, the Exynos series‘ market share in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 2 percentage points to 6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon and Yoon Yeon-hae]

Samsung is placing its hopes on the next-generation Exynos, which will incorporate a new foundry process, to become the key player boosting its AP segment. The Exynos 2500, set for mass production in the second half of 2024, is expected to be adopted in the Galaxy S25 series, which will be released in 2025.

The next-generation Exynos will be produced using Samsung Electronics’ 3-nanometer second-generation process and is expected to outperform its predecessor in terms of performance and power efficiency. This will be the first time Samsung produces Exynos chipsets using the 3-nanometer process.

The Exynos 2500 is also expected to narrow the gap with Qualcomm‘s products made by foundry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) as it is the first product in the industry to apply the next generation ’Gate All Around (GAA)‘ transistor technology that enhances power efficiency.