Vivo reportedly wants to make a 5G phone with Samsung's Exynos 980 SoC

There is now evidence that Samsung's most recently-released chipset, the rather atypical Exynos 980, may first be released as part of a phone made by a different OEM. According to a presentation reportedly given earlier today (September 5, 2019) the company in question is Vivo. 

The 980 is Samsung's first chipset to be based on ARM A77 cores and to have an inbuilt multi-mode modem. In other words, the SoC has a relatively novel architecture and can use all the available mobile-data standards, from 2G to 5G.

Nevertheless, the 980 is also projected to be destined for a less than premium mobile-device tier. In addition, it now seems that its maker intends to farm it out to different manufacturers, as it did with the 9609 found in an existing Motorola One device.

Therefore, Vivo may want this processor as the path of least resistance to the mid-range 5G market of the future. Then again, IceUniverse - who covered the conference in question on Twitter - also asserts that the OEM intends to have the phone based on this new collaboration on shelves some time in 2019.