You told us: You have a bias towards one chipmaker when buying a phone

There are plenty of chipmakers in the Android smartphone space, with Qualcomm and MediaTek the two biggest third-party chip providers on the market. We’ve also got Samsung’s Exynos, Google’s Tensor (designed by Samsung), and less prominent players like HUAWEI and Unisoc.

So with all that in mind, we wanted to know whether you had a chip brand bias when buying a new smartphone. We posed this question last week, and here’s how you answered it.

Do you have a chip bias when buying a smartphone?

Results

Over 2,600 votes were cast in the days after we posted this poll, and it turns out that a rather significant 57.75% of respondents only buy phones with Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon. We can understand this choice, as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon was traditionally the preferred choice for those wanting to tinker with their phones or those wanting updates for longer. It was also the preferred option for those wanting to use ported GCam camera apps.

In a distant second place was “I don’t have a chip bias,” accounting for 27.7% of the vote. You could definitely argue that most consumers don’t care about the chip in their phone as long as it does everything they need it to do at a satisfactory pace.

Related: A guide to Qualcomm Snapdragon processors

Interestingly, those who prefer Google’s Tensor chips rounded out the podium, accounting for 8.24% of the vote. This result is especially intriguing in light of our recent poll finding that almost three-quarters of polled readers had connectivity issues with the Pixel 6 series.

Finally, those who prefer MediaTek (2.65%), Exynos (2.27%), and chips from other brands (1.4%) brought up the rear.

Comments

• simp: I would say the fab making the chips play a part too, not just the brand of the chip itself. Just look at the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 by Samsung fab which runs hot vs the TSMC made 8 Plus which is more peformant. Other than that, Tensor borrows too much from Exynos and is suffering from the use of inferior modems. I really hope Google can sort this out but it doesnt seem too hopeful unless they use Qualcomm modems.
• Tennisfreak: I had to vote yes because historically I always looked for Qualcomm chipsets. But I can say that I definitely am interested in MediaTek now. My next phone will have a SOC from whoever offers the best mix of performance, battery life, and heat management. If I was buying a phone today the Dimensity 8100 phones would be at the top of my list.
• Freespeech: I had preferred Qualcomm earlier because of possible compatibility issues. Made some investigation and gave MediaTek a chance 2 years ago, no problem at all. However, I would avoid Exynos.
• dvsDave: I didn’t have a preference till I got my pixel 6… The radio pisses me off on a daily basis, so only Qualcomm radios from here on out. No problem with the Tensor, but if the Pixel 7’s radio isn’t as reliable as the Pixel 3 was, I’ll look at other brands.
• Leif Shantz: While I always bought Qualcomm phones, I decided to try out the Exynos 1280 powered Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. It’s performing well for my needs, though In the beginning, some TikTok filters refused to work but they seem to be optimized now. Though, I have a Qualcomm bias, if there’s something I really want by MediaTek or Exynos, I’ll get it.
• thesecondsight: Despite a few performance hiccups throughout the years, Qualcomm has always been a solid, consistent performer. That consistency means a great deal to me. Furthermore, I’m an avid user of GCAM which only works with Qualcomm chipsets.
• Kira: From a historical perspective with its better support for long term usability,Qualcomm certainly has the edge,although looking towards the future with MediaTek surging ahead,I think the best option will be whoever offers the best mixture of performance,power consumption and other features like ISP/AI,and of course the price.Even though we are not always impressed with Exynos or UniSoc,they do tend to add to competition(always desirable) and offer good enough chips for the entry/budget segments.
• Patrick Mac: Yes I like Qualcomm chips but for some reason Samsung ships phones to my market with Exynos chips.
• T_Dizzle: No bias here, I’ve owned Qualcomm and MediaTek phones recently and both performed very well. Very interested to see how the 9000 does against 8G1, in the wild.