Teardown of Galaxy S6, the likely AT&T version, reveals Samsung LTE modem, in addition to processor
Aaron Tilley / Forbes :
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung has been steadily swapping Qualcomm silicon for its own across flagships: after announcing the Galaxy Note 4 with Snapdragon 810 for 300 Mbps LTE and then shipping the LTE-A variant with its own Exynos chip instead, the question was whether US carrier models would follow. A Forbes teardown of the likely AT&T Galaxy S6 answers part of it: alongside the processor sits a Samsung-made LTE modem, meaning even this American-market unit is not fully dependent on Qualcomm.
First-order effects
- AT&T's Galaxy S6 stock now carries Samsung's own modem rather than a Qualcomm one, putting Qualcomm's share of a major US carrier's flagship lineup directly at issue.
- The teardown gives analysts concrete evidence that Samsung's Exynos-and-modem stack is carrier-ready, extending what it had already shown with the Exynos-based Note 4 LTE-A.
Second-order effects
- Qualcomm faces a shrinking guaranteed-socket position as its largest Android customer internalizes modem design, pressuring the licensing-plus-chipset model on flagship devices.
- Rival carriers and later rugged variants sold through AT&T — like the Galaxy S7 Active — inherit the same sourcing question, making Samsung's in-house silicon the default baseline for future AT&T flagships.
Third-order effects
- If Samsung keeps pairing its own processors and modems, the endpoint visible in the coverage is full integration — realized years later in the standalone Exynos Modem 5100 with 5G support — shifting handset silicon from a Qualcomm-supplied component market toward vertically integrated platform competition.
The trend: Smartphone makers are replacing merchant chipset suppliers with in-house application-processor-plus-modem stacks, and Samsung's teardown trail from Exynos phones to its own LTE silicon is an early data point.