TL;DR
- Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed there will be at least some Samsung Galaxy S24 Exynos models.
- This means the all-Qualcomm-everywhere format of the Galaxy S23 series will not carry over into 2024.
- We are still unclear on how, exactly, the family will split.
For the past few months, there have been a lot of conflicting rumors floating around about the Samsung Galaxy S24 series’ processors. At first, we thought all Galaxy S24 phones would get Qualcomm processors, just as we saw with the Galaxy S23 series. Then we heard that the vanilla model would get Exynos globally, but the rest would get Qualcomm. After that, we heard there would be a split by area, with all US models getting Qualcomm and all global models (aside from the Ultra) getting Exynos.
Well, we’re no closer to knowing how the Samsung Galaxy S24 Exynos models will split, but we are finally confident that the split will happen. Thanks to a remark from Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, we know that some Galaxy S24 models will see Exynos processors.
During an earnings call (the relevant part starts at 38:55), Amon stated: “We’re happy with our partnership with Samsung. There’s the upcoming launch of the GS24 [Galaxy S24]. We expect to have the majority share.” This statement seems innocuous, but Amon admits that Qualcomm will only have the majority share, meaning there’s a minority share as well. Undoubtedly, that minority will be powered by the recently announced Exynos 2400 processor.
This is the first official confirmation of the Qualcomm/Exynos split returning. So, if you had your hopes up that the rumor mill would be wrong, this is the confirmation you’ve been dreading.
Of course, we still don’t know how Samsung will split the market availability. It would be nice if at least the Ultra models would use Qualcomm across the board everywhere. That would enable anyone, regardless of location, to still get a Qualcomm Galaxy S24. The old split of certain countries getting all Qualcomm and others getting all Exynos would be difficult to return to after this year.
We’ll likely know more about the Galaxy S24 series processors in the coming weeks.