Samsung Expands SoC Business, the 'System Semiconductor Flower,' with Mid-Range Exynos (Comprehensive)

Samsung Electronics Alone Increases Shipments in Global Mobile AP Market in Q2
Effective Strategy Targeting Mid- to Low-Price Smartphone Market by Strengthening Mid-Range Lineup
Samsung Electronics Releases Two Exynos Development Leader Contents on Newsroom
"Exynos Aims to Be Recognized as the Best Mobile AP Brand"

Samsung Electronics Exynos 2200 / Source=Samsung Electronics

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Pyeonghwa] In the mobile application processor (AP) market, often called the brain of smartphones, Samsung Electronics showed growth centered on mid-to-low-end APs while major players like MediaTek and Qualcomm faltered. It is evaluated that Samsung Electronics' business strategy to expand its mid-to-low-end product lineup and increase its influence in the system-on-chip (SoC) market proved effective. Samsung plans to enhance its SoC competitiveness to elevate its brand value.

MediaTek, Qualcomm, Apple Falter in 2Q Market... Samsung Electronics' Shipments Increase by 53%

According to market research firm Omdia on the 5th, major players in the global mobile AP market saw shipment declines in the second quarter. Taiwan's MediaTek, the market leader, shipped 101 million units in Q2, down 9.6% from the previous quarter. Qualcomm and Apple, ranked second and third respectively, also recorded decreases of 4.0% and 13.3%. As a result, the market shares of the top three players either remained the same or increased by only 0.1 percentage points (Qualcomm) compared to the previous quarter.

In contrast, Samsung Electronics saw a sharp increase in shipments of its mid-to-low-end Exynos (Samsung Electronics' mobile AP brand), excluding premium products. Samsung's mid-to-low-end Exynos shipments in Q2 reached 22.8 million units, a 53.0% increase from the previous quarter. This effect led Samsung's market share in Q2 to rise by 3.0 percentage points to 7.8%. This means Samsung showed growth while MediaTek, which dominates the mid-to-low-end mobile AP market, was sluggish.

The mobile AP industry views Samsung Electronics' mid-to-low-end smartphone market strategy as effective. Earlier, Samsung announced in its Q1 conference call that it would expand its overall SoC supply by adding mid-to-low-end SoC product lines.

In fact, Samsung released the mid-range Exynos 1080 this year and equipped it in its mid-range smartphone models, Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G. The Galaxy A13 LTE, released this year, was equipped with the Exynos 850 introduced in 2020, which also helped drive shipment volumes. According to market research firm Omdia, the Galaxy A13 LTE and Galaxy A53 5G ranked third and ninth in global smartphone sales in Q2, respectively.

Jung Woo-kyung, PL of SoC Design Team 2 in the System LSI Business Division, is introducing Samsung Electronics' CPU business. / Source=Samsung Electronics Newsroom

Samsung: "We Will Make Exynos the Best Mobile AP Brand"

Samsung Electronics plans to strengthen its competitiveness in the SoC business, including mobile APs. Since last month, Samsung has been releasing a series of content titled 'Exynos Development Leaders Talk About SoC' on its newsroom, detailing its SoC business plans. The content aims to share related business plans directly from the leaders of the System LSI Business Division responsible for Exynos and to enhance public understanding.

In the first episode released on the 25th of last month, Samsung introduced its graphics processing unit (GPU) and image signal processor (ISP) businesses. Kim Mingu, head of SoC development at the System LSI Business Division and chief designer of Exynos, described SoC as the "flower of system (non-memory) semiconductors" and said, "The role of SoC is boundless in future industries." He also emphasized, "We will leverage SoC competitiveness to have Exynos recognized as the best mobile AP brand trusted and used worldwide."

The second episode, released on the 1st, introduced Samsung's central processing unit (CPU) and neural processing unit (NPU) businesses. Regarding mobile CPUs, Samsung explained that it secured competitiveness by adopting CPUs from Arm, a semiconductor intellectual property (IP) company. It also added that since starting Exynos NPU development in 2016, it has continued related investments and research.

Jung Woo-kyung, PL of SoC Design Team 2 at the System LSI Business Division, stated in the second episode, "By adopting Arm CPUs, we aim to create the best CPU in the mobile industry," and added, "We are exploring various methods, including utilizing next-generation packaging technologies, to improve performance."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.