This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Samsung’s flagship phones have come a long way in the past 2-3 years thanks to a major shift in the company’s vision for making Android flagship phones. For example, you might’ve noticed that Galaxy flagships like the S21, S22, and S23 don’t really look all that different but score high in our (and other) reviews thanks to how stable and consistent they are.
They say “if you can’t beat them, join them”, and that’s exactly what Samsung did by following Apple’s model of “slow innovation” with focus on incremental but important upgrades in software and hardware. As a result, the Galaxy S23 is now one of the most dependable Android flagships we’ve ever seen as it offers timely software updates for years to come, and solid, mature hardware with virtually no gimmicks.
If I must get more specific, I’d tell you the Galaxy S23 takes arguably the best Portrait Mode photos in the business right now and comes very close to the iPhone in video quality, while also being a very fast and fluid phone. If you told me that would be the case 4-5 years ago when Samsung was lacking behind the likes of Apple and Huawei, I would’ve thought you’re kidding. But the South Korean company managed to turn things around for the better.
That being said, while Galaxy has finally managed to set the standard for software and hardware on Android, there’s one specific area of the smartphone experience where Samsung still lacks a consistent track record, and that’s performance. And after a year of hasslefree Snapdragon Galaxy S23s, now leaks regarding the Galaxy S24 series of flagships hint at the return of the biggest problem associated with Galaxy flagships in the past few years - the Exynos chip.
But is Samsung heading backwards, or is Exynos finally getting good?
Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra: People are concerned Samsung is bringing back the Exynos chip, but is Samsung about to ruin the Galaxy flagship again, or is there hope for something better?
At this stage, we should take the yearly Geekbench scores of the Exynos 2400, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and A17 Bionic with a good pinch of salt.
According to early leaks and rumors, Samsung has been working hard to resume development of its own flagship Exynos chips (allegedly the Exynos 2400) expected to power the upcoming Galaxy S23 FE, and more importantly, the flagship Galaxy S24 series of phones coming out early next year.
The news comes as a surprise as the Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra were the first Samsung flagships to be powered by Qualcomm chips in each and every market around the world - a change Samsung users celebrated loudly due to how consistently inferior Samsung’s Exynos chips in the Galaxy S22, S21, and S20 were compared to their Snapdragon counterparts.
In case you need a reminder, the Exynos version of the recent Galaxy S21 and S22 flagships was more prone to overheating, performance slowdowns, faster battery drain, and in some instances, inferior photo and video quality compared to the Snapdragon variants of the same Samsung flagships.
So, it should come as no surprise that Samsung’s poor track record with the Exynos chip is a valid reason for concern, especially if you live in Europe or Asia (where Samsung used to sell flagships phones with Exynos chips). It’s also not surprising that many X (Twitter) users are very vocal about their preference for Qualcomm chips in the upcoming Galaxy S24 series of phones.
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Early benchmarks indicate Exynos Galaxy S24 could be faster than iPhone 14 Pro and noticeably slower than iPhone 15 Pro, but power was never the biggest Exynos problem
That being said, perhaps there's a reason to be a little bit more optimistic when it comes to the new Exynos 2400 expected to debut with the Galaxy S24?
Early benchmark leaks of the Exynos 2400 chip that might power the Galaxy S24 show promising results by surpassing the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and coming very close to that of the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro, but that’s not necessarily unexpected since those chips are now older. The real benchmark for the alleged Exynos 2400 will be the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and A17 Bionic in the iPhone 15 Pro.
Note that the Exynos 2400 benchmark scores should increase when tested on the newer Geekbench 6 platform, but even then, benchmark scores were hardly the issue with past Exynos chips. The real question is whether Samsung can finally make a cool, efficient chip that goes toe to toe with what Qualcomm and Apple have to offer, and doesn’t hold the Galaxy S24 flagship back.
Apple’s A17 Bionic-powered iPhone 15 Pro is expected to debut as soon as September 12 now, becoming the first and only chip built on the most powerful and efficient 3nm process (by TSMC). Meanwhile, Qualcomm is expected to unveil the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 at the end of October, while Samsung’s alleged 4nm Exynos 2400 is expected to debut in the shape of a Galaxy S24 early next year.
Terrible timing: Did Samsung just remind everyone why Exynos is worse than Snapdragon before putting the chip back in the Galaxy S24?
As mentioned above, the Exynos version of phones like the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S22 sold in markets like Europe, the UK, and parts of Asia was worse than the Snapdragon variants sold in the US.
And in case you needed a visual example of the disparity in performance between a Samsung flagships running on Exynos and one running on Snapdragon, look no farther than the just-released Galaxy S21 FE (Snapdragon 888) in India, which arrived as a (very unexpected) refresh to the dated flagship, which debuted in India with the Exynos 2100.
I believe the camera samples courtesy of Trakin Tech speak for themselves as the pictures taken with the Exynos Galaxy S21 FE show how different chips can affect not only how fast or efficient a phone is, but also picture quality. This brand new example of old Exynos issues shouldn’t be overlooked, especially in the wake of the rumors for return of Exynos in the Galaxy S24.
Will Galaxy S24 bring back the same old region based Exynos vs Snapdragon division, or will Samsung pull an Apple? Is it a good time to buy a Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S23?
In the end, I’d like to remind everyone that the leaks and rumors surrounding the Exynos 2400 and Galaxy S24 series are very fresh, meaning we could see all sorts of changes in the coming months that make Samsung’s return to Exynos seem like a worse, or a better idea. Or who knows, Samsung might change its mind and stick to using Qualcomm chips. Fingers crossed.
But as things stand, I’d like to use the end of this story to raise a few questions regarding Samsung’s alleged switch to Exynos, and give you what I think are the likely answers (as of right now), but also, throw the ball to you. So feel free to answer those questions with a comment down below…
Why did Samsung take a break from Exynos?
That’s a question we might never know the answer to, but there are a few likely answers. For example, it’s possible that Samsung was ready to switch to Qualcomm chips for the long term but then changed its mind.
Another possibility is that the Exynos chip supposed to power the Galaxy S23 series wasn’t good enough (per Exynos standards), or Samsung couldn’t make enough units. Remember the global chip shortage? This is an ongoing issue for chip and phone-makers.
But my favorite answer might be that Samsung simply wanted to buy itself some time to make a better Exynos chip, which the company now wants to bring back. Or you know - it might be all of the above.
Why is Samsung bringing Exynos back when the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S23 enjoys a great reputation?
Now, that’s a more specific question, which makes it a bit easier to answer. For one, an in-house chip should be much cheaper to make for Samsung, and that might be enough of a reason for the return of Exynos.
Moreover, a custom SoC allows the company to tweak the design of the chip to better fit the needs of the phone. We’ve seen this with the Tensor SoC powering Google’s latest flagships, which apparently helps the Pixel get some special AI features not found on other Android phones.
Ironically, at the same time, Tensor is a slower, less efficient chip manufactured by… Samsung. As per rumors, Google is looking for a chance to switch to using a different manufacturer for its chips. Ouch.
Will Galaxy S24 bring back the same old region based Exynos vs Snapdragon division, or could Samsung pull an Apple?
While everyone expects Samsung to go back to the same old region based division for Galaxy flagships where the US and China get Qualcomm chips while Europe and the UK get Exynos, I think there’s a decent chance Samsung might steal another page off Apple’s book instead!
How about a Galaxy S24 (vanilla model) with an Exynos 2400 and a Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? The cheaper phone gets the cheaper (and allegedly weaker chip), while the more premium ones get the best of the best. If it sounds familiar, that’s because this is pretty much what Apple is doing with the iPhone now - the vanilla models get last year’s slower chip, and the Pro models get a brand new, class-leading SoC.
I believe that even if the alleged Exynos 2400 variant of the Galaxy S24 is almost as good as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 one, users in regions that get the Exynos version of Samsung’s flagship will still feel left out. No one wants to pay the same price (or much more) to get an inferior version of what’s supposed to be the same phone. Therefore, Samsung might want to copy Apple here.
If people in Europe and the UK are getting Exynos instead of Snapdragon in the Galaxy S24, is it a good time to buy a Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S23?
That’s an excellent but tricky question to answer right now. Certainly, if you need a new (Galaxy) flagship, the Galaxy S23 series of phones are still excellent, and I can only recommend them, even half a year later.
Or you can wait for the actual launch of the Galaxy S24 (expected in February 2024) and make up your mind based on how well this one performs. Moreover, the Galaxy S23 models will be even cheaper six months from now. One thing’s for sure - if the Galaxy S24 runs on an inferior Exynos chip (compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), that might make the S23 series an easy recommendation even in 2024.
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Martin, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, brings a unique blend of humor and insight to his work. His fascination with smartphones began with a Galaxy Young and evolved through a series of trades and upgrades, making him a self-proclaimed smartphone nerd. Martin's content often combines current analysis of market trends with historical references and future predictions. Whether it's a deep dive into technical issues or a first-person commentary on industry events, Martin's articles are designed to inform and engage. His critical perspective is driven by genuine curiosity and a desire to keep readers informed, not by any corporate sponsorship.
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