Qualcomm blocked Samsung from selling their Exynos chip to other OEMs

There are two big new processors coming out this year: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 and Samsung’s Exynos 9. The Exynos chips have been made exclusively for Samsung phones, but apparently, Samsung tried to sell them to other manufacturers. A new report claims Qualcomm prevented that from happening.

According to the report, Samsung attempted to sell the Exynos chips to others. Qualcomm saw that as a major competitor and abused the “standard essential patent” licence to block Samsung from selling chipsets for about 25 years.

Qualcomm knows a giant like Samsung could easily cut into their business in a major way. Samsung already sells parts to other manufacturers. It’s a big part of their business. The Exynos chips have been praised for being a notch above Snapdragon chips. We’re sure some manufacturers would love to switch to Samsung.

UPDATE: Qualcomm’s statement: “Qualcomm has never stood in the way of Samsung selling chips to third parties, and nothing in our agreements has ever prevented Samsung from doing so. Any statement to the contrary is false.”