
Samsung drops Qualcomm for own chipset in Galaxy SIII E210s
Samsung has historically been known for its high-end application processors that appear in a number of its smartphones but the modem in its product has typically been supplied by companies such as Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom, STE, or Via Telecom.
VP of Engineering, James Mielke, stated that, “Mid last year it introduced a CDMA/LTE phone that was produced with a Via Telecom CDMA modem, a Samsung LTE modem, and a Samsung application processor. This combination became popular for Samsung during the remainder of the year. What makes this variant of the Galaxy SIII so interesting is the modem is a single chip HSPA/LTE integrated circuit designed and manufactured by Samsung.”
As Samsung continues to capture more share of the smartphone market, Samsung’s growing reliance upon captive market solutions could prove to be a major concern for suppliers such as Qualcomm and Via Telecom. This move to manufacturing its own solutions plus its recent purchase of CSR’s handset business could prove a key turning point that signifies a shift in the handset component market towards a platform battle between two major powerhouses of the mobile industry.
