A logo of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm is seen on the windshield of a car in Beijing September 13, 2014. China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has investigated dozens of foreign firms over alleged "anti-competitive behaviour" - from auto parts makers and milk powder producers to drugs firms and tech companies, including Qualcomm Inc, which faces a potential record fine of more than $1 billion. From interviews with more than two dozen attorneys, executives, and experts, who have been drawn into investigations with the NDRC's price supervision and anti-monopoly bureau, a picture emerges of a culture of intimidation. The agency's aggressive tactics coincide with an increasingly sobering business climate for foreign firms in China. Fears over the ruling Communist Party's support for domestic firms has prompted some to declare the end of a golden age for foreign business in the world's second-largest economy. To match Insight CHINA-ANTITRUST/NDRC Picture taken September 13, 2014. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic (CHINA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS LOGO CRIME LAW) - RTR46CHJ (REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic)
While usually seen as competitors, Qualcomm and Samsung are about to embark on a very cozy trip to your smartphone’s innards. Samsung has just announced mass production of their 14nm LPP(Low-Power Plus) has begun.
As expected, this technology will be embedded right into Samsung’s upcoming Exynos 8 Octa processor, but it won’t be the only one rocking all the goodies. Samsung is certainly willing and able to partner up with other chip makers, and one of them happens to be Qualcomm.
Also read:
- Samsung unveils Exynos 8 Octa processor
- Qualcomm officially unveils the Snapdragon 820
- Snapdragon 820 vs Exynos 8890: the 2016 SoC battle begins
As you can assume (and read in the title), this does mean that the Korean manufacturing will be producing the almighty Snapdragon 820, which is expected to power plenty of flagship handsets in 2016.
“We are pleased to start production of our industry-leading, 2nd generation 14nm FinFET process technology that delivers the highest level of performance and power efficiency.” -Charlie Bae, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, System LSI Business, Samsung Electronics
That’s right, even if your phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset, it will be a Samsung-made SoC. In the battle of tech, the only winner seems to be that with the most profits, and if it means making money Samsung will definitely get in bed with the San Diego-based chip maker. We even got to see a Samsung demo tablet running a BRITECELL 1.34um camera sensor at CES, which just so happened to be powered by a Snapdragon 820.
And it is no surprise. After all, Samsung has been working very closely with another main competitor – Apple. They also provide screen technology for many other companies, and their manufacturing services are not about to stop.
As always, Qualcomm and Samsung will still battle for your pocket. Both are expected to be great contenders, but we have to mention we did spend some time with the Snapdragon 820 at CES and walked out quite impressed. The LeTV Le Max Pro is the first handset to come with Qualcomm’s chipset, and its benchmarks reach well over the 130,000 AnTuTu milestone. Insane!
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