Last week, Bloomberg reported that Samsung would not be using the Snapdragon 810 chip inside its Galaxy S6 flagship device this spring due to some overheating issues that have been rumored to exist before. Not long after, LG, the first company to officially announce a Snapdragon 810 device, said its own upcoming smartphone, the G Flex 2, doesn't have any overheating issues.
The two contradictory reports created some confusion about what's actually happening with this chip, and whether it actually has a technical problem currently or not. A new report from the Wall Street Journal said that Qualcomm is now creating an updated version of the chip, specifically for Samsung, and that it should be ready in March.
According to previous reports about the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S6, the phone is supposed to actually come out in March. This will likely mean that the new Snapdragon 810 will miss the Galaxy S6 launch window. Samsung probably needs at least a few weeks, if not months, to have it ready for its devices, after the moment Qualcomm delivers the updated chip.
This isn't all bad news for Samsung, either, as the company can reduce its reliance on third-party chips such as those from Qualcomm, especially now that Apple has switched almost completely to TSMC to fabricate its chips. This will cause some revenue loss for Samsung's mobile chip division, and one way to boost the revenues back up will be to sell its other divisions its Exynos chip, as well as to other companies.
Losing the Galaxy S6 contract could be a significant hit for Qualcomm this year, but it's possible Samsung was already planning to use its next-generation chip inside the Galaxy Note 5. Samsung may wish to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm, but it's doubtful it will stop all of its current ongoing contracts with the company.
If everything goes well with Samsung's own Exynos chip inside the Galaxy S6, then the company may consider ceasing any chip purchase from Qualcomm going into the next year, at least at the high-end, where its Exynos chip works.
The first phone to feature the Snapdragon 810, the LG G Flex 2, will start shipping in a matter of days in South Korea on January 30.
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