To Create an Ecosystem for Mobile Devices
The Device Solution (DS) Division of Samsung Electronics has started to develop an application processor (AP) dedicated to Galaxy smartphones. The Korean tech giant is emulating Apple, which has built its own ecosystem with A-series APs for iPhones.
Samsung plans to develop a dedicated AP for Galaxy smartphones by 2025. The company's Mobile Experience (MX) Business Division, which produces smartphones, has so far used APs from Qualcomm of the United States and MediaTek of Taiwan. The Exynos series, an AP developed by Samsung Electronics’ DS Division, has also been applied to some models. Recently, as the Galaxy S22 became embroiled in a controversy related to the game optimization service (GOS), voices grew inside the company for the development of a dedicated AP with high performance and low power consumption.
Company officials say that Samsung should speed up the creation of an ecosystem based on a smartphone AP. Apple uses its own AP for iPhones, tablet PCs, iPads, Apple Watches, and MacBooks, and as a result, the operating systems (OS) and software of these devices are compatible.
The reason Samsung Electronics decided to develop an application processor (AP) for the Galaxy series is because a sense of crisis is growing across the DS Business Division in charge of semiconductors and the MX Business Division responsible for mobile devices. The DS Business Division has to dial up its share in the system semiconductor market, while the MX Business Division needs to expand its presence in the premium smartphone market, which is dominated by Apple.
Samsung's DS Business Division is placing a big bet on the development of this AP. The company's Exynos APs are not bad in terms of technology, but they are not yet good enough to catch up with market players such as Apple and Qualcomm, experts say. Samsung Electronics ranked fourth in the global AP market with a market share of 6.6 percent in 2021, according to Strategy Analytics. Qualcomm posted the highest rate of 37.7 percent, followed by MediaTek (26.3 percent) and Apple (26 percent).
Chinese smartphone makers have also started developing their own APs. Chinese electronics company Oppo recently started developing an AP on its own.
Samsung Electronics is expected to expand the Exynos as a weapon to target the market of mid- to low-end smartphones after 2025. Fortunately, an entry-level 5G Exynos AP released in 2022 is said to be gaining ground in the mid-to-low-end smartphone market led by Chinese companies. The Exynos 1280 is the first mobile chipset made via Samsung Electronics’ foundry 5-nm process. It has higher specifications than the Exynos 1080 introduced in 2021. The Exynos 1280 is also installed in the entry-level A-series which sold the most among Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy models. It also powers the Galaxy M33 launched in the Indian market last month.