Opinion: Samsung need to start using the Snapdragon processor worldwide in their flagship phones

Samsung have always used two different chips for its phones: The latest Qualcomm Snapdragom, some parts of Asia such as China and Hong Kong, as well as Latin America, and the USA, as well as their own Exynos processor used in Europe, most of Asia, Africa, and other places.

For the past few years, the Snapdragon processor has always trumped the Exynos processor when it comes to performance and battery life. While the S7 had performance issues on the Snapdragon variant, the S8 used the Snapdragon 835, the flagship Snapdragon chip of 2017, and also the Exynos 8895 in most countries. The Snapdragon processor won speed and battery tests that year, shocking everyone who thought the Exynos processor could be better due to their experience with the S7.

Since then, the Snapdragon processor on Samsung phones has always won against the Exynos processor. The S9 also included FM radio support with its Snapdragon variants, while the Exynos variants lacked the hardware to do this. The S10 and S20 have both performed better on their Snapdragon-powered variants.

It’s become obvious, now, that Snapdragon processors are better. It surprises me to be fair because I’d expect Samsung to be able to make sufficient optimisations to their build of Android on Exynos variants, but it’s obvious this is not just software related anymore.

Look at any Samsung forum or Twitter account and you’ll see tons of complaints, primarily from Exynos users, about issues such as performance, battery, and heat management. The truth is, Exynos processors are designed badly. Exynos variants feature the same size battery as Snapdragon, run the same OS, and have the same screen resolution, yet somehow Snapdragon is faster. They cost the same price, yet they don’t have the same performance. What’s stopping Samsung from using Snapdragon globally?

There have been petitions with tens of thousands of signatures calling for Samsung to stop using the inferior Exynos processor in their smartphones sold in Europe, most of Asia, Africa, and in various other places around the world. Look at complaints about performance on Samsung phones, and you’ll find most of these complaints are about Exynos users.

Now, am I saying here that Samsung should end Exynos completely? No. Many mid range and low end phones can do fine with a lower-range Exynos processor. What I’m saying here is that Samsung should stick to Snapdragon in flagships. Exynos remains a good choice for mid-range, but flagships? Why should Samsung use Exynos in Europe, Africa, and a lot of Asia when they do fine with Snapdragon in Latin America, the USA, and other parts of Asia such as China and Hong Kong? There’s no reason why Samsung shouldn’t use Snapdragon in all flagships in all countries.

To conclude, what I’m saying here is that Samsung should keep the Exynos brand for their mid-range and low-end phones while using Snapdragon with flagships. It’s evident now that Snapdragon is superior, and Samsung are just letting their fans down by giving them a worse phone for the same price. But hey, the use of the Snapdragon 855+ chip worldwide in the Galaxy Z Flip is a sign of hope for Samsung to potentially start using Snapdragon processors in all flagships in the future.