Samsung Galaxy S22 leaker — here's who gets Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200

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A list of regions for Samsung Galaxy S22 suggests that Exynos powered 2200 devices will be in the minority

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra render
(Image credit: LetsGoDigital)

It’s nothing new for Samsung to vary smartphone chipsets between regions. But with the company’s Exynos 2200 chipset featuring an AMD RDNA2 GPU, there’s more interest than usual about which region will get what.

Now, according to the leaker Dohyun Kim, we have an idea of the split “based on firmware development.” As previously anticipated, the overwhelming majority of regions including North America will apparently be getting the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, but there are patches of Exynos in West Asia, Middle East Asia, Africa and across all of Europe.

While getting an Exynos chip is pretty much par for the course for Europe, this is the first time it's being seen as a possible advantage. Historically, the Exynos chip has lagged behind Qualcomm’s silicon, but this time around the tables could be turned, with the Exynos 2200 performing better in leaked benchmarks and potentially being a gaming powerhouse thanks to the involvement of AMD.  

There is, however, reason to take Dohyun Kim’s tweet with a pinch of salt. Just 12 days ago, the tipster was claiming that every region would be getting a Qualcomm powered version of the phone including Europe. “Exynos 2200 is G.O.N.E.”, he wrote. “It might be released later, but I'm sure that it's not going to be in Galaxy S22 series.”

We now know this initial prediction to be incorrect, as Samsung has said as much. “We are planning to unveil the new application processor at the time of launching a new Samsung smartphone,” a Samsung spokesperson said. “There are no problems with the AP’s production and performance.”

However the chip division ultimately occurs, the performance difference between Exynos 2200 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will be fascinating to see, and we can’t wait to benchmark the two chips for ourselves. 

Whatever the outcome, we’ll know more when the Samsung Galaxy S22 family of phones are unveiled next month.  

Alan Martin
Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.