Exynos APs Lose Further Ground

MediaTek’s mobile AP Dimensity 9000

Samsung Electronics is expected to load MediaTek's mobile application processor (AP) in its premium smartphone lineup. The company has thus far used MediaTek's APs for the budget Galaxy A series on a limited basis. This means the Exynos AP, which is produced by Samsung Electronics’ foundry division, will lose more ground in the AP market.

Samsung is considering installing MediaTek’s APs in the Galaxy S22 Fan Edition (FE) and the Galaxy S23, which will be rolled out in the second half of 2022. It is expected to use MediaTek’s APs for about half of the Galaxy S22 FE smartphones and for the Galaxy S23 smartphones to be sold in Asia.

Samsung has used Qualcomm APs and Exynos APs for its premium smartphone lineup. For mid- to low-end smartphones, Mediatek APs were partially used to lower unit prices and boost price competitiveness. So it will mark the first time that Mediatek APs power premium Samsung smartphones.

MediaTek’s share of the global AP market stood at 26.3 percent in 2021, second only to Qualcomm with a 37.7 percent share, according to Strategy Analytics (SA), a market research firm. Apple and Samsung Electronics followed the two with 26.0 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

MediaTek has stood out in the AP market for mid- to low-priced smartphones under US$400. In 2021, 95 percent of its total AP shipments were for mid- to low-priced smartphones. However, the company’s next-generation premium mobile AP Dimensity 9000, which was released in early 2022, has received favorable reviews, encouraging it to actively target the premium AP market.

MediaTek has mapped out a plan to ramp up its market share in the United States, Korea and Europe beyond the Chinese smartphone market. The company has maintained the No. 1 position in the Chinese AP market for more than five years, but its share remained at around 10 percent in the rest of the market. For this reason, MediaTek is pushing hard to load its APs into smartphones of Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 smartphone maker, as a way to expand its market share.

On the other hand, Samsung is having a hard time promoting the use of its own Exynos APs. The Samsung Galaxy S22, released in early 2022, is loaded with Qualcomm APs instead of the Exynos. Sam Mobile pointed out that this is a symbolic event that undermines the reliability of the Exynos APs.

In 2022, Samsung Electronics’ foundry division decided to dial up its market share by mass-producing an Exynos chip manufactured using the industry’s first 3-nm process. As the Korean tech giant's foundry technology is at the industry’s highest level, it has strengths in product yields and price competitiveness. “In order to save Exynos chips, Samsung has to make them high-performance products with increased price competitiveness,” an industry insider said.

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