Last week, we were fortunate enough to receive a Galaxy S7 Edge G935T based on the Snapdragon 820 chipset, and this week we get our first look into the Exynos variant, the Galaxy S7 G930F. We like to look at all major phone releases across their many different models, as we know that there are differences in who wins what sockets in the different regional models.
Over the years Samsung has demonstrated that they will put the best device in a socket that they can. Even if Samsung designs and manufacturers a competitive device, they will not use theirs if it can be beat by an external supplier. Case in point, Samsung could have put their CMOS image sensors in the phone, but they chose Sony’s because Sony offers the best quality and price. If the Samsung CMOS image sensor had been better and more cost effective, it would have been employed. Samsung uses the best overall device they can, whenever they can. Let’s see what the differences are for the G935T and the G930F.
We’ve only just received the G930F, so our teardown will evolve over the coming days. Our first look inside the G930F reveals some similarities and some differences.
Just a quick FYI, there is no email address for Skyworks’ IR department that that I could find on their site. I did call today and left a message. I will see if they call back.
Gclever88 - sorry still haven’t seen tear down reports with Skyworks confirmation. I’ve seen benchmark reports and I have seen confirmation of the Samsung chip but that doesn’t help much.
Cheers
Ant
I think it’s important not to jump to conclusions. We should verify what the dollar content for SWKS in the Galaxy 7. Just because there are fewer SWKS chips does not mean less SWKS content as some chips are worth several dollars and some are worth pennies. Also, multiple chips can be combined in one chip. So what really happened???
Based on a tear-down report I read, Skyworks got zero content. That is absolutely cause for concern.
Maybe so, Charlie, but we still haven’t seen definitive information that confirms that SWKS is any of the S7 phones.
Well, does the CEO explicitly saying it is count??
I’m not asking this rhetorically.
Making possibly-over-optimistic projections about eps growth and stuff like that, lot’s of CEO’s do that. That’s why they have that whole “forward looking statements” stuff.
But it seems like blatant, illegal fraud for him to say that Skyworks is in the S7 if it isn’t, no? Would the SEC not prosecute for something like that??
Well, speaking of the devil, shortly after lunch I got a call from Steve Ferranti from Skyworks Solutions IR department. I’m at work and it caught me completely off guard. I was able to sneak away though (translation: sprinted away from the conversation I was having and ducked into an unused conference room) and here was the gist of the conversation:
Samsung does not have one universal Galaxy S7 model, it has several.
The one featured in the breakdown is the only Samsung Galaxy S7 model Skyworks is not featured in.
Skyworks will be up YOY with Samsung (he did not specify if that meant revenue or earnings, but I took it as both).
He was very helpful and asked if I had further questions. Again, I was at work and his call caught me completely off-guard so, naturally, I froze. For that brief second it was like I didn’t know anything else about the company and couldn’t ask one intelligent-sounding question. I stammered something, thanking him for taking the time to call a small individual investor and that was that.
I wish I had asked him about Skyworks’ moat if Samsung could so easily in this one model or at least asked him why Skyworks wasn’t in the model featured in the breakdown. But, again, I froze.
Anyway, he seemed upbeat about the whole thing and it does ease some of my most pressing concerns: Skyworks is in Samsung’s new model and they have increased their business with the company this year.
He did tell me not to hesitate to call him back if I had any more questions.
Thanks for that Matt. Very well done. You were persistent and you got the info.
As for freezing. I do it at my doctor appt. Can’t remember the questions I wanted to ask.
In your situation though. Most anybody would forget what to ask. You probably felt pressed by the unexpected suddenness of the call and the use of the other guys time.
Matt, I’m so impressed. How empowering is that? You’re not a professional investor, but you are acting as well or better than one today. You’re not just interpreting the same info that everyone else has - you’ve gone to the source (a multi-billion dollar corporation) and gotten your own. And on top of that you’ve been kind enough to share it with us. Kudos and thanks.
Matt,
That was great. The next time you get tongue tied repeat after me. I am a police officer and investigate fraud. That should help put you on an even footing
Thank you, thank you… But seriously all I did was send an email and make one call, and I wouldn’t have even thought of doing that much if it had not been for Neil’s suggestion. But, yes, it is definitely cool to hear directly from a company you’re invested in when you have a question!
On top of that, I’m always glad when I’m able to give something back to this board because I’ve certainly taken away far more than I’ve given here!
Also, I’ve been corrected: I spoke to Steven Chehames who works for Steven Ferranti in the IR dept. When he introduced himself on the phone all I heard was Steven. Afterward I did a quick Google search and assumed it was Ferranti. He read one of my board posts today (not sure if it was here or on one of the SWKS boards) and asked if I would correct this.
I did ask him a few more questions in my email back to him. Hopefully he’ll respond.
Also, I’ve been corrected: I spoke to Steven Chehames who works for Steven Ferranti in the IR dept. When he introduced himself on the phone all I heard was Steven. Afterward I did a quick Google search and assumed it was Ferranti. He read one of my board posts today (not sure if it was here or on one of the SWKS boards) and asked if I would correct this.
and don’t worry about freezing up. It’s easy do do when you are taken so unawares.
I know the feeling. Two years ago I was on a mile-high rocky ridge in Alaska during a windstorm. Absolutely not the place I would expect to run into a grizzly…those were all supposed to be down in the valley. Yet, when I turned around, there was one just 20 feet away. I froze. Didn’t matter that I had bear spray and horn-deterents or anything. I froze.
Luckily, he was as friendly as the investor relations rep you dealt with.
Samsung does not have one universal Galaxy S7 model, it has several.
Many people don’t really understand what a variety of different models the respective S"X" flagship tends to have.
For example, I own the LTE-A variant of the S5, which launched a few months later (only in Korea) and which has 32 GB internal storage, a much faster Snapdragon 806, more RAM, and a higher resolution screen:
