Exynos vs. Snapdragon: Why Exynos Gets a Bad Rap?

For years, Samsung has dominated the smartphone industry’s top spot – at least, thanks to the Galaxy S brand. Each release has sleek designs, top-of-the-line displays, and powerful cameras, making it stand out against the competition.

However, there’s one unpopular choice it makes every year that never fails to get a reaction – sometimes, even boos – from the fan base: using the Samsung Exynos chip.

Why Samsung Exynos Fils Over Snapdragon?

The Galaxy S series, Samsung sells either using the Qualcomm Snapdragon or its in-house developed Exynos chip depending on the region. And that’s where the dichotomy among users starts.

Now, while North America gets the Snapdragon variant, in many cases, Europe and Asia get the variant with the Exynos chip.

That’s raised a heated debate among tech enthusiasts as a clear preference leans toward Snapdragon. But why? Why do users give a kind of boo reaction when Samsung uses its Exynos chip?

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore all the reasons for the divided opinion examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Exynos and Snapdragon processors, and analyze how this rivalry is shaping the future of Samsung smartphones.

A Brief History of the Samsung Exynos vs. Snapdragon Rivalry

There has been a long debate about Exynos and Snapdragon chips. Although the idea of Samsung churning out its very own Exynos processors for flagship devices has been in existence for over ten years, the South Korean tech firm has used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips in most flagship Samsung smartphones.

The clash between the two is, in general, about to be settled on the field of the Galaxy S series, which comes out every year in two variants, one with a chip on the Exynos, and another with a chip on the Snapdragon.

However, it has been evident for years now that both are far from each other. Even with raw power and more gaming prowess, Snapdragon has taken up everything in terms of performance as well as shortcomings in several other aspects.

These include better battery efficiency and a superior camera compared to Exynos. This gap has been a major reason behind some users taking the side of Snapdragon over Exynos particularly when Samsung decides to ship the Exynos variant in their region.

Why Do Users Favor Snapdragon Over Samsung Exynos?

Even though the Exynos processors have improved, users favor Snapdragon for one or more of the following reasons.

Let’s break down and get to know the critical areas in which Snapdragon chips outperform Exynos chips constantly:

1. Performance and Gaming Abilities

Raw performance, particularly where it counts to wit, gaming, and intensive applications are a big reason users prefer Snapdragon.

The best reason for this is that Snapdragon processors are built to be reinforced by the most powerful GPUs, offering better optimizations for mobile gaming.

Qualcomm makes quite a significant amount of investment in optimizing chips for such high-performance applications like gaming, sources close to the company say.

In head-to-head tests, Snapdragon versions of the Galaxy S tend to score better on AnTuTu and Geekbench.

Again, the added processing power is particularly apparent with graphically demanding games or apps on the phone.

Exynos versions, on the other hand, sometimes lag in performance, with noticeable drops in efficiency and responsiveness in more demanding use scenarios.

2. Battery Life and Efficiency

Snapdragon chips often pride themselves on the energy efficiency of the battery. Due to their improvement in management and architecture, Snapdragon processors tend to consume much less energy as compared to other devices.

That is why their power does not run out that soon; sometimes the difference is imperceptible, and sometimes – more tangible.

Exynos processors also lacked in the issue of heat management. They would thereby suck up a lot of power when performing tasks intensely.

This made the battery drain fast. The user may now heavily depend on his or her phone, without having to plug it into the charger.

3. Camera Performance and Image Processing

Believe it or not, processor selection does indeed influence the camera of your smartphone. In low-light photography, autofocus, and general image processing, Galaxy S devices running on the Snapdragon churn out the best results.

When it comes to addressing the intricacies in smartphone camera technology AI-enhanced image correction to smooth video recording at higher resolutions-Qualcomm stands out as a cut above the rest.

But then again, there are times when Exynos variants seem to be a little behind the times. While it’s true that the hardware in Samsung is the same (camera sensors), the software and image processing are quite different due to the chips.

These processes do very well under Snapdragon chips, and that then churns out better images, more refined and polished.

What Does Exynos Bring to the Table?

But still, in many situations, Exynos beats Snapdragon. There are a few scenarios where Exynos performs better than the Snapdragon counterpart:

1. Battery Life under Specific Conditions

Although Snapdragon is quite energy efficient, there are instances where Exynos processors outperformed their Snapdragon counterparts in certain modes of battery savings.

In real-life usage, users have cited instances where a Galaxy S with an Exynos processor lasts longer while performing less intensive operations like browsing or streaming.

This can be credited to the power management system applied in Exynos chips-a system that, most of the time, manages to stretch battery life when the phone isn’t pushed to its limits.

2. Unique Features and Customization

Sometimes, Exynos chips feature some elements lacking in Snapdragon counterparts. For instance, some Exynos chips have specific camera features or particular video codecs missing in Snapdragon brands.

The features usually differ with regions, where users in one region receive the features, while their equivalents in another do not enjoy them.

Other than that, since Samsung manufactures its Exynos chipsets, it may be able to implement new technology faster than Qualcomm does; thus, Exynos may get an innovation advantage.

3. Regional Availability

One of the main reasons users get an Exynos-powered Galaxy S is due to availability. In many markets in Europe and Asia, Samsung offers the device only on the Exynos variant.

Sometimes, this concerns business considerations, such as licensing agreements or supply chain constraints.

Thus, even if people prefer the Snapdragon version, they have no choice but to go with the Exynos version in certain parts of the world.

The Future of Exynos vs. Snapdragon

What’s next in this ongoing rivalry? Do you think Samsung will finally give up on Exynos in favor of Snapdragon, or will it double down to make its homebrewed chip better and close that performance gap?

Samsung has been majorly focused on improving the Exynos processors during the last year or so. Heavily invested in R&D to bridge the performance gap for Exynos over Snapdragon, and with partnerships like AMD for GPU technology, the future of Exynos seems bright.

Samsung is hell-bent on keeping its chips competitive especially now when it wants to reduce dependency on Qualcomm.

But Qualcomm doesn’t sit back. Snapdragon processors are continuously bettering up these days, specifically in AI processing, further battery life efficiency, and gaming optimization.

As long as mobile technologies keep evolving, Exynos and Snapdragon will probably take the smartphone world even further than their current merits.

Wrapping It All

The Exynos vs. Snapdragon fight is far from being over. Many users still prefer having Snapdragon for better performance, longer battery life, and a more capacity camera feature.

However, the side of Exynos also has its bright strength in the power-saving aspect, especially in terms of having fewer demanding tasks and features that one might not find on the variants coming out with Snapdragon.

The choice between Exynos and Snapdragon at the end of the day would depend on where you stay and what matters most to you in a smartphone.

Be it gaming performance, battery life, or cameras, each of these has some input to give. And with the fast-paced nature of technology, one will be curious to note how the gap between Exynos and Snapdragon changes over time.