Samsung is working on a lot of new products and services. In the second half of the year, we can look forward to a pair of foldable smartphones—the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 3. More Galaxy mid-range phones are also lined up but looks like there may be some changes in the schedule. The Galaxy Note 21 series is believed to be cancelled for this year due to chip shortage. This problems seems to extend to other lines as there is really a lack of mobile application processors.
Samsung Galaxy A phones are usually powered by Snapdragon processors by Qualcomm. There are phones loaded with Snapdragon 720G and 750G chipsets. These chips are also now used on some Xiaomi and Redmi phones.
Apparently, there is a challenge in procurement according to a source that supplies some parts to Samsung. The production of Galaxy A series phones is now said to be delayed.
This isn’t surprising because there really is a chip shortage. It will continue until the end of 2021 as per Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon. He noted there is a “global semiconductor supply demand imbalance” that can be considered as severe.
It’s been a challenge for most tech companies. Xiaomi may pass on high costs to consumers because of the chip shortage. The Google Pixel 5a phone will may also be delayed. This chip shortage is a result of a number of things including the temporary shutdown of a Samsung Electronics’ plant in Austin because of the cold wave. In Taiwan, there was a drought and power outage that caused problems in operations of TSMC.
There is higher demand for chips now and chip makers can’t quickly deliver the supply. Hopefully, this will end soon and things should go back to normal.