Samsung likely to supply Exynos chips to Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO

Seoul: Samsung Electronics is reportedly planning to supply smartphone Exynos-based application processor (AP) to Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO in 2021.

According to a report in BusinessKorea, Samsung LSI Business Division has started to reduce the supply of Exynos chipsets to Samsung's wireless business division (ostensibly the smartphone unit) due to low profit margins and has been seeking new customers.

The report said that Xiaomi and OPPO sought Exynos chipsets as they need more processors in order to expand production in light of Huawei's woes.

The Exynos AP had been mostly used for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy smartphones until the mid-2010s.

Samsung Electronics' Wireless Business Division, which also used Qualcomm APs, leveraged the Exynos APs in negotiations with Qualcomm.

Currently, Qualcomm is the primary supplier for APs in premium handsets, so the Exynos chips in the budget lineup might grow the recognition of the brand.

Early this year, Samsung decided not to use the premium AP Exynos 990 for the Galaxy S20 model released to the Korean market, a setback for its premium AP.