Samsung and Apple are each ditching Qualcomm and for good cause

Qualcomm has lengthy loved an essential place within the smartphone business: with main gamers all counting on it for smartphone parts. However two of the largest telephone producers on this planet — Samsung and Apple — are making strikes to distance themselves from Qualcomm. And truthfully? I don’t blame them.It would take a very long time earlier than each firms are in a position to produce options which can be a minimum of equal to Qualcomm’s choices. However even settling for lower than excellent replacements looks like a viable enterprise technique that each firms are all for pursuing.

Samsung and Apple growing options

Samsung has had a rocky relationship with Qualcomm for a really very long time. The corporate’s telephones have usually needed to depend on the latter’s Snapdragon processors. It’s been a sore level for a lot of Samsung followers that the corporate retains promoting telephones geared up with its personal Exynos chips in most markets. It is because Snapdragon processors have traditionally outperformed their Exynos counterparts annually.With the Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup the corporate needed to launch all telephones with Snapdragon processors throughout all the world. Customers outdoors the choose few markets that all the time acquired the Snapdragon variants have been asking Samsung why they couldn’t have this yearly. Samsung went again to the regional break up with the Galaxy S24 however then needed to solely use Snapdragon as soon as once more for the Galaxy S25 collection.

Now it’s been revealed that it’s nearly assured that Samsung will as soon as once more break up its upcoming flagship telephones into Snapdragon and Exynos variations for various areas. The corporate is tough at work growing a 2 nm Exynos 2600 chipset to energy the Galaxy S26 lineup. However ongoing yield points imply that Samsung will possible solely use Exynos for the European (and some different) markets.

This additionally exhibits that Samsung remains to be decided to maneuver completely to Exynos — a call I’m in favor of — and that Snapdragon stays a placeholder. Moreover, this yr Apple additionally took a web page out of Samsung’s e-book and debuted its in-house mobile modem, the C1 chip, on the iPhone 16e. This modem has been within the works for years and, after many failed makes an attempt, Apple was lastly in a position to produce a reliable various to the Qualcomm chips it has all the time used.

Reviews point out that Apple plans to begin utilizing its in-house modems in its flagship iPhone fashions very quickly. The truth is the upcoming base mannequin iPhone 17 and the brand new iPhone 17 Air are each stated to be geared up with Apple’s in-house modem chips. The corporate will broaden its use of its modem chips and shortly all Apple gadgets can be utilizing them.

However why do each Samsung and Apple wish to transfer away from Qualcomm so badly?

Qualcomm is simply too costly

Understandably, packing your telephones with parts from an exterior occasion is costlier than making your personal components. Samsung misplaced $400 million when it needed to ship each Galaxy S25 mannequin with a Snapdragon processor. Equally Apple’s greatest gripe with Qualcomm has been the price of the licensing charges.

Qualcomm makes wonderful chips, little doubt. The C1 modem isn’t pretty much as good as its Qualcomm various (although it’ll get there) and Exynos has a unfavorable popularity due to its shortcomings. However smartphones have developed to some extent the place these efficiency variations don’t matter for the common person. A non-enthusiast one who will get a brand new Samsung or Apple telephone will nearly by no means be capable to inform the distinction and so they most actually won’t care both.

Qualcomm’s future is unsure

I’m not saying that Qualcomm goes to break down: it’s too massive to fail so shortly. However Qualcomm’s inventory, in response to the analyst who reported Samsung’s loss, could be very unpredictable going ahead. The corporate is shedding out on income streams left, proper and heart.

Qualcomm additionally just lately revealed how a lot share will probably be shedding out on this yr for the iPhone 17 collection. From these figures we will additionally take a guess at which iPhone 17 fashions will use Apple’s personal modem: the bottom and Air fashions as talked about above. Samsung and Apple are each decided to chop off the corporate and although that isn’t going to occur in a single day it has begun taking place.

If I needed to guess I’d wager that Qualcomm’s dominant place within the smartphone business is shortly coming to an finish. If Apple, Qualcomm’s greatest buyer, is leaving it then there’s not a lot else left. And whereas that paints a really totally different image for the way forward for the smartphone business than the one I’m used to, it additionally sort of makes me excited.