Samsung, Google team up for next generation pixel smartphone

Samsung Electronics' Exynos series semiconductor processor chips. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

By Kim Hyun-bin

Samsung Electronics is reportedly in partnership with Google to develop next-generation Pixel smartphones, which could be released as early as this year.

Samsung Electronics aims to become the global leader in the system semi-conductor field by 2030 and their partnership with Google, the world's largest information and communication technologies (ICT) firm is expected to further expand its name value as well as its global footprint.

According to media reports Sunday, Samsung Electronics is scheduled to provide a customized 5-nanometer Exynos processor chip to Google, which is scheduled to be embedded in the company's next Pixel smartphone.

Samsung Electronics declined to confirm the reports.

The chipset is expected to be made with Samsung's 5nm LPE process. The Exynos octa-core processor allegedly features two Cortex-A78 CPU cores, dual Cortex-A76 CPU cores, and four Cortex-A55 CPU cores. The chipset could use ARM's soon to be released Mali MP20 GPU microarchitecture.

“Normally for one smartphone two different processors are utilized so it depends how much Google will rely on Samsung's Exynos for their Pixel phones … this will change the amount of sales volume,” an industry official familiar with the matter said. “There was some controversy over the efficiency of the Exynos, however, if Google decides to adopt the processor it could become a turnaround for the product.”

Currently, Google is under development of a new Android-based operating system dubbed “Android 11.”

In 2011 and 2012, the two firms were under a mutual cooperation agreement to develop the Google Nexus Series, but ended their partnership in 2016 after the U.S. ICT giant switched over to Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors for its pixel series

For a better transition for the partnership, Samsung created a new Custom SoC team within its Device Solutions business earlier this year, headed by Park Jin-pyo, who worked in the Foundry ASIC team until last year.

If the new partnership receives the green light, industry watchers believe it will become a great opportunity for Samsung to further expand in the global semi-conductor market as well as enhancing production capabilities.

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics ranked third in the global smartphone application processor market, accounting for 14.1 percent of the global market share, a rise of 2.2 percentage point year-on-year.