News Article
Samsung Drops Qualcomm for Own Chipset in Galaxy SIII E210s
According to ABI Research, this could be the start of a platform war between Apple & Samsung
The Galaxy SIII E210s was released in Korea recently and with its launch, Samsung sent a message to the chipset giant Qualcomm by dropping the Qualcomm modem in favour of its home grown solution.
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, states 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."
Key Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE (SHV-E210s) components include Samsung's 2G/3G/4G 40nm modem- CMC221S (same main die as predecessor- CMC2200), the Samsung Quad core Exynos 4412 application processor and Samsung's ISP. Also used in the device are the Triquint quadBand EDGE PA, Avago and RFMD's 3G PAs, Broadcom's BCM4334 WiFi/BT/FM single chip and Wolfson 's audio hub WM1811AE.
Other components are the Knowles Mem microphones, STM Gyro and pressure sensor and FCI's 2G/3G/4G transceiver FC7860. As Samsung continues to capture more share of the smartphone market, its 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 Samsung's 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.
