The use of 4nm chips in the Galaxy S24 series may bring advantages to Samsung
According to Business Korea, Samsung intends to incorporate both Qualcomm’s third-generation Snapdragon 8 and its own Exynos 2400 into the upcoming Galaxy S24 series slated for early next year. Both Systems-on-a-Chip (SoCs) are to be crafted using a 4nm process. However, the distinction lies in their production: the third-generation Snapdragon 8 will be fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), while the Exynos 2400 will be produced in Samsung’s own foundries.
Recent whispers suggest that the third-generation Snapdragon 8 marks a substantial performance leap from its predecessor, garnering a multi-core score of 7,400. This brings it tantalizingly close to the Apple A17 Pro’s 7,700, a significant advancement from the Snapdragon’s prior generation score of 4,975. Contemporary evaluations indicate that, although the TSMC-manufactured 3nm A17 Pro saw limited performance gains, its battery longevity remained consistent, implying no enhancements in power efficiency. Should the third-generation Snapdragon 8 rival the A17 Pro in performance, it could significantly bolster the competitiveness of the Galaxy S24 series.
Samsung has previously tested the Exynos 2400 in both the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ models and seems to be growing increasingly confident in this chipset. This newfound confidence may be attributed to the improvements in its 4nm process yield, which, as per rumblings, has risen to 75% over the past few months—coming notably close to TSMC’s 4nm process yield of 80%. Presently, mobile Application Processors (APs) account for approximately 20% of smartphone production costs. The more avant-garde the semiconductor technology, the higher its potential cost share. Considering cost-efficiency and profitability, both TSMC’s and Samsung’s 4nm processes appear more favorable than the 3nm process employed by the A17 Pro.
Despite the prevailing lull in consumer electronics demand, Samsung remains bullish about the sales prospects of next year’s Galaxy S24 series. They’ve opted to increase production of the Galaxy S24 series by roughly 10% compared to the Galaxy S23 series. In a strategic move to counteract Apple, Samsung might expedite the launch of the Galaxy S24 series from February to January.
