Galaxy S23 might dump Exynos for Qualcomm chips next year

The Galaxy S22 series has been a bittersweet success for Samsung. The phone brought back the Note series as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and the entire S22 line saw great sales initially. But soon after launch, buyers discovered the Exynos 2200 versions of the phone came with performance throttling and benchmark cheating. The Galaxy S23 will be spared such shame next year, with Samsung reportedly using just one chip: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

The Galaxy S22 throttling issue turned into quite a scandal in Samsung’s home country. The Exynos 2200 was hardly the success that Samsung wanted it to be. The throttling helped Samsung reduce overheating and preserve battery life. But it also meant the Galaxy S22 wouldn’t perform like a true flagship.

Samsung had to apologize to shareholders and customers and faced lawsuits and investigations in Korea. Furthermore, the company had to dispel accusations that it had cut corners designing the Galaxy S22. And it pledged to create a high-end chip to power flagship phones in the future.

That won’t be the Exynos 2300, if the following claims pan out. Ming-Chi Kuo believes the Galaxy S23 series will only use Qualcomm’s next-gen chip.

Galaxy S23 to run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip

Kuo is an insider known for his accurate Apple-centric leaks. He usually details the iPhone and other unreleased devices. But he recently addressed the Galaxy S23 series, releasing a few predictions on Twitter.

According to him, Qualcomm will be the sole processor supplier for the Galaxy S23 series after accounting for 70% of Galaxy S22 chip shipments. Kuo says the SM8550 will be Qualcomm’s next chip, built on TSMC 4nm process. The insider doesn’t mention the name of the processor. But we’re probably looking at the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Kuo said the Exynos 2300 “can’t compete” with the SM8550. Therefore, The Galaxy S23 will get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip.

Moreover, the leaker said that the new Qualcomm chip has “obvious advantages” over its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 predecessors regarding computing power and efficiency.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 to have a similar fate

A different insider recently described a similar strategy for the Galaxy Fold 4 and Flip 4 foldables coming in the second half of the year. Samsung will only use the newer Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip in those devices. That means buyers will not risk running into the Exynos 2200 version of the two foldables this year.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 chip variation will power other 2022 Android flagships in the coming months. The Plus variant should be more powerful and efficient than the regular model.

That said, it’s too early to tell what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will bring to the table. Qualcomm will unveil the new chip closer to the end of the year. As for the Galaxy S23 series, we don’t expect Samsung to unveil the phones until the first months of 2023.