Skip to main content

Qualcomm asks Samsung to supply all the Snapdragon 820 chips

Qualcomm plans to contract Samsung to be the sole manufacturer of its Snapdragon 820 processor, according to Reuters. It will be the first time Qualcomm has sourced all of its mobile processor manufacturing to one foundry, having in the past split duties between several.

Though no specific reason was given, Samsung’s use of the 14-nanometer manufacturing process is the biggest advantage it has over competitors such as TSMC. This allows lower cost, smaller chips that offer better battery life to be made.

Recommended Videos

The Snapdragon 820 is highly anticipated, and crucial to Qualcomm, following the issues surrounding the Snapdragon 810. Though Qualcomm still denies the overheating allegations, the Snapdragon 808 was often chosen instead, while others decided to wait for the Snapdragon 820. In Samsung’s case, it powered all of its 2015 Galaxy devices with an in-house Exynos chip, which forced Qualcomm to lower its sales forecast. Could awarding the Snapdragon 820 contract exclusively to Samsung be somehow related?

It’s certainly worth plenty of money, with Reuters putting the figure at a massive $1 billion. However, rumors have spread about Qualcomm’s shift away from Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC and towards Samsung, for several months. According to this report in April 2015 by Extreme Tech; Nvidia, Marvell, and MediaTek may have also held talks with Samsung, but nothing has been made official in this area since.

TSMC won’t want to lose Qualcomm’s business, and apparently accelerated development of newer chips during 2015. However, it is not all bad news for TSMC. There are rumors Apple will contract the manufacturer exclusively for the iPhone 7 chipset. Apple currently splits the manufacturing between TSMC and Samsung for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

The first Snapdragon 820 phone has already been revealed, and in the next few months we suspect quite a few more phones will launch with the new processor. If the plan goes ahead, Samsung’s going to be very busy.

David Curry
Former Contributor
David has been writing about technology for several years, following the latest trends and covering the largest events. He is…
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is Qualcomm’s new smartphone chip, and it’s a big deal
Official rendering of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.

Qualcomm has just announced its next major smartphone chip. The successor to the excellent Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12 is here, and in many ways, it's a very big deal.

Talking about smartphone chips isn't always the most exciting thing, but Qualcomm has given us a lot to talk about and look forward to this time around. Let's get into it.
Qualcomm's new chip has a new name

Read more
This new Snapdragon chip will transform AI on cheaper phones
A rendered image showing a phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor.

Qualcomm is capitalizing on the increased interest around AI with its latest smartphone chip announcement. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor supports generative AI capabilities and several large language models (LLMs) to help midrange devices compete with their flagship counterparts, which have seen AI increasingly used as a major selling point.

Qualcomm’s general manager of mobile handsets, Chris Patrick, confirmed the company’s intention with the chip in the press release, saying:

Read more
Qualcomm’s new smartphone chip will make cheap 5G phones better than ever
Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 silicon inside a phone.

Qualcomm is pushing a new entry-level smartphone chip into its arsenal, and this one is expected to appear in phones toward the end of 2024. The silicon in question is the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, which is a slightly watered-down version of the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor.

The two most promising aspects are faster connectivity and improved camera capabilities for budget Android phones. First, the 5G-ready chip promises downlink speeds of up to 1Gbps, which is much faster than the 4G-only silicon available in the comparable price bracket.

Read more