Qualcomm names Samsung official partner in the Snapdragon Pro Series, leaving Exynos in doubt

Today, Qualcomm officially announced Samsung as a partner in the Snapdragon Pro Series mobile gaming tournament. This competition is one of the world's largest mobile multi-genre affairs, including games such as Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9, Brawl Stars, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Garena Free Fire, Mobile Legends, and New State Mobile.

The partnership basically means that pro gamers would have to use exclusively Snapdragon-powered Galaxy devices, like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy Tab 8 Ultra, and most likely the new Galaxy S23, during matches and event rounds next year.

"We’re committed to bringing high-performance Samsung Galaxy devices powered by Snapdragon to the hands of billions of gamers around the world to promote both camaraderie and competition," said Stephanie Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Marketing at Samsung. "As the Official Smartphone Partner of the Snapdragon Pro Series, this announcement deepens our existing collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and is an important next step in our pursuit of advancing mobile technology in the esports world."

Speaking of the Galaxy S23, this latest partnership is probably the last nail in the coffin of Samsung's own Exynos silicon. All recent rumors point toward dropping Exynos chips on the high-end S23 series next year, which would also mean that the partnership between Samsung and AMD hasn't delivered on its promises.

The Exynos situation has been problematic in recent years, to say the least. There was even a petition started by users demanding Samsung stop using Exynos silicon in its flagship phones, with main motives being slow performance and low battery efficiency, especially compared to Snapdragon-equipped models.