Fans worldwide have chided Samsung for selling two versions of its flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note smartphones for many years. There is, however, one market that has been excessively vocal about its anti-Exynos sentiments: India. Given that it is the world's second-largest and fastest-growing smartphone market, one can't help but wonder where all the outrage is coming from.
Based on my observations online (and offline), here are several reasons why people in the subcontinent hate Exynos silicon with a passion.
Exynos chipsets have been underperforming for a while
Now, this isn't an India-specific sentiment per se and is shared by many users irrespective of their nationality. Samsung's inability to catch up with Qualcomm has left many people questioning the competence of its LSI arm. While older Exynos chipsets could (almost) match Qualcomm counterparts in raw performance, the Exynos 990 debacle left a lasting impression that is unlikely to be reversed anytime soon.
To make matters worse, the Exynos 2200's AMD RDNA2-based GPU has a lot riding on it, but Samsung hasn't said a peep about its performance. Samsung's general silence around the Exynos 2200's performance has cast doubt into people's minds about its capabilities.
Indians pay a lot more for their tech compared to Western nations
It is no secret that India is one of the world's most expensive places to buy electronics. Hefty import duties and local taxes often drive up prices of products by over 33% in many cases. We also have to bear in mind that high-end Samsung smartphones often cost more than the average Indian salary. The lack of carrier deals often forces users to look at third-party financing alternatives which are notoriously expensive at times.
That makes buying an inferiorly-specced product even more infuriating, especially when you know that people in other regions are paying a lot less for an objectively better product.
Chinese OEMs have inundated the Indian market with their vast repertoire of smartphones
Outside of China, India is undoubtedly one of the most option-rich smartphone markets out there. Ever since Xiaomi dethroned Samsung as India's number 1 smartphone brand, competitors such as Oppo, Vivo, Realme and iQOO have been trying to replicate its success. As a result, the brands often end up undercutting each other by offering outrageously powerful hardware at throwaway prices.
This results in competition. Lots of it. Hence, the prospect of paying more for an inferior product seems even more ludicrous when you can find a Snapdragon 888-powered Xiaomi/Realme phone selling for less than half of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Now, many might argue that a Xiaomi phone won't offer a ‘true' flagship experience, but that's a compromise many are willing to make.
Will the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powered Galaxy S22 sell more in India?
Thankfully, India will get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powered Galaxy S22 series this time around. While that alone could help sell more phones in the country, Samsung has to fix its notoriously bad pre-order bonuses. A pair of (already overpriced) earbuds at 50% off isn't nearly incentive enough, neither is a free SmartTag worth Rs 2,500 with a Rs 1,00,000+ phone.
The pricing situation is a lot better due to Samsung manufacturing phones locally, but some of the higher-end Galaxy S22 Ultra variants will likely be out of the reach of most people.
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