Why is Samsung looking to Qualcomm?

MWC 2013: Confirming rumors leads to more questions

Mar 11, 2013 by

Samsung - logoSamsung is backpedaling on it’s “in house only” CPU pledge for phones, but why, not who, is the most interesting question. Unfortunately for observers, the former is the one without a definitive answer.

The hot rumor at MWC was that Samsung is going to use a CPU/SoC from another company in their impending Galaxy IV phone at launch. SemiAccurate spent quite a bit of time looking in to these rumors, and eventually got a definitive answer. The reason we say eventually was simple, almost everyone at the show “knew” this was the case, but few could say why. The information spread wide but was frighteningly shallow.

This problem is the reason why most rumors that the entire internet community simply knows is the case often turn out to be wrong. A lot of work is necessary to find out what is really happening, much less confirm it. Simply put, the distilled problem is the internet “echo chamber” of news sites the just copy from one another until everyone “knows” something is true. The same effect happens at shows too. Having been caught up in this problem once, it makes one wary of such “truths” that “everyone knows”. You have to dig down far deeper than looking at half a page of search results on Google to confirm something like this.

So that is what we spent an inordinate amount of time at MWC doing, not finding out if Samsung is using another SoC in their Galaxy IV phones, but why people are saying they are. The sheer number of people who “absolutely knew” this was happening who could not give a shred of evidence about how they knew, on or off the record, was roughly equivalent to the attendee count for MWC. But a few knew, and shared some tidbits.

Note: The following is analysis for professional level subscribers only.

Disclosures: Charlie Demerjian and Stone Arch Networking Services, Inc. have no consulting relationships, investment relationships, or hold any investment positions with any of the companies mentioned in this report.

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate