A new report from Re/Code has Qualcomm looking to make the first major change to the process used to design and manufacture its Snapdragon chipsets, with Samsung likely being enlisted to help.
Currently, Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset in the 810 is said to suffer from overheating issues after sustained heavy usage in selected smartphones, such as the HTC One M9, to the point that Samsung refused to ship variants of the Galaxy S6 with the chipset and instead shipped US and European versions with its own Exynos chipset, causing Qualcomm to adjust its sales projections lower for the year.
As a result of the refusal to ship the S6 with the 810, Qualcomm is now looking to make amends with Samsung by hoping to secure its chipmaking facilities and its chipset designs in order to develop and manufacture the Snapdragon 820, which has yet to be sampled and won’t be released commercially until next year.
Such a move would be unprecedented for both Samsung and Qualcomm, as both companies are also competitors in the chipmaking sector while being common customers in the smartphone sector. Samsung is also one of the few chipmakers to have its own 14 nanometer fab, which Qualcomm is aiming to take advantage of for manufacturing of the 820, due to the potential for recovering lost revenue from the 810 through less manufacturing expense and lower operating temperatures.
