Sluggish chipset production may limit supply of Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphones

Even as Samsung announced its new flagship Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones today in New York, it seems like the South Korean conglomerate is facing another challenge: Qualcomm may not be able to produce the chips needed for the Galaxy S8 at a fast enough rate. This is a slight problem when the Galaxy S8 was supposed to be the first smartphone to make use of Qualcomm’s top of the line chipset, the Snapdragon 835.

Qualcomm isn’t the only one who industry sources say has fallen behind schedule; the Exynos 8895 SoC intended to be used for Galaxy S8 devices sold in South Korea may also not be on schedule to meet demand. It’s difficult to measure the impact a production shortage would have on Samsung’s sales numbers, but with such intense competition among high-end smartphones, even the smallest disadvantage could have major negative consequences.

Limited supply played a role in the disappointing sales of LG’s G5 modular phone last year, underscoring LG’s lagging mobile division and their struggle to increase their sub-4% market share. As a result of the LG G5 flop, LG cut a number of jobs and a number of executives stepped down.

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