In a significant development for fans of Samsung Electronics S-series smartphones in South Africa, the Korean company has decided to ditch its own Exynos silicon in this year’s S22 models in favour of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip.

Historically, Samsung has shipped S-series models in Europe, Africa and some other markets around the world with its in-house-developed Exynos processors, with the Snapdragon chips typically reserved for use in models sold in North America.

But the company has changed tack due to shortages of its new Exynos chips and a desire to get the phones into the local market as quickly as possible, it said.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is included in all the new S22 devices that will be sold in South Africa, including the S22+ and S22 Ultra models. It is also the chip used in new Galaxy Tab S8 tablet computers Samsung unveiled on Wednesday. The new system-on-chip, or SoC, is manufactured for Qualcomm by Samsung Foundry using a new 4-nanometre process technology, which offers more power efficiency.

The new processor reportedly offers 20% faster processing and a 30% improvement in graphics horsepower compared to its most immediate predecessor, the Snapdragon 888+. The SoC supports 5G speeds of up to 10Gbit/s, 8K video recording in HDR and the latest Wi-Fi technology, known as 6E (which is able to access a new frequency channel at 6GHz – in addition to the usual 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels).

Samsung will be hoping the latest S-series updates will revive sales after two weak years.

The S22 series, revealed during a global live-stream on Wednesday, will directly compete with Apple’s iPhone 13 launched last September. Samsung’s two-track premium mobile strategy has it launching flagship models in the first half of a year and Galaxy Z foldable phones in the second.

Camera upgrades

Aimed at appealing to consumers who are fussy about video and photo quality, Samsung said the S22 phones’ cameras offer clearer low light and night shots as well as automatic framing that can track up to 10 people, ensuring they are all in the frame and in focus.

The most expensive version, the S22 Ultra, comes with a stylus — a signature feature of Samsung’s large-screen Galaxy Note models, which many fans and analysts now believe to be discontinued.

While Samsung saw sales of smartphones decline during the pandemic, arch-rival Apple logged sales gains.

The Galaxy S suite of products usually sells more than 30 million units annually. But it logged less than 25 million in 2020 and a little less than 30 million last year, hampered in part by component shortages, said Jene Park, a senior analyst at research firm Counterpoint.

“We believe that Samsung will ship more than 15 million units of the Galaxy S22 family in the first half of 2022. If the initial sell-through is good we can expect it to reach 30 million units in 2022,” he said.

A global semiconductor shortage is expected to continue into this year but analysts predict Samsung will fare better than many rivals thanks to its huge buying power and strong grip on its supply chain.

Samsung said the S22 Ultra, S22 Plus and S22 will be available in South Africa on 11 March.