Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) will once again equip its new tablet PC, set to launch next month, with a "value" application processor (AP), or brain chip, from Taiwan's MediaTek. As artificial intelligence (AI) performance competition intensifies in tablets following smartphones, the importance of the AP capable of properly running such features has grown. Yet the company's strategy is to prioritize cost reduction to improve profitability, which has deteriorated sharply in recent months.
According to industry sources on the 4th, Samsung Electronics recently registered the "Galaxy Tab S12 Plus" tablet equipped with MediaTek's "Dimensity 9500" on Geekbench, a global electronics performance evaluation site. This marked the first official confirmation that the Galaxy Tab S12 series would carry a Dimensity chip. Major electronic products undergo Geekbench performance evaluations close to their launch, and the records are disclosed externally.
The Dimensity is a "mass premium" AP that offers performance one notch below Qualcomm's "Snapdragon" or Apple's M-series of the same generation, but at a lower price. This is the third year that a Dimensity chip has been used in the Galaxy Tab. Over those three years, AP competition has intensified with the commercialization of AI, but from Samsung Electronics' perspective, cost reduction through performance compromise remains more pressing.
In March, Apple released the "iPad Air," an entry-level model in the 900,000 won range, with the M4 chip, which scored 13,338 on Geekbench multi-core (multitasking performance). That is 37% higher than the Dimensity 9500 (9,723 points) in the Galaxy Tab S12, which will launch at a similar retail price. Chinese tablets from Lenovo and Vivo carry Qualcomm's "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5," which is also featured in the "Galaxy S26" and "Galaxy Z8" series. It too scored 11,010 in multi-core, higher than the Dimensity 9500.
Competitors are racing to expand their market share through these chips. According to market research firm Omdia, the share of Apple, the top player in the tablet market in the first quarter of this year, rose slightly to 40.1% from 37.2% a year earlier. The combined share of Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi also grew from 22% to 24.2%. Samsung Electronics alone recorded 15.7%, down 2.2 percentage points.
Despite this competitive situation, Samsung Electronics appears to be focusing on cost reduction centered on non-flagship products, as its Mobile eXperience (MX) division recorded its first-ever operating loss in the second quarter. Galaxy Tab quarterly shipments stood at 6 million units as of the fourth quarter of last year, about one-tenth of Galaxy phones (60 million units). Since even a slight drop in share has a relatively small impact on earnings, the company can afford to be more aggressive with performance compromises.
Conversely, for flagship lines such as the Galaxy S and Z that drive earnings, Samsung Electronics is employing a two-track strategy: maximizing performance while accepting high costs to defend market leadership, and minimizing price increases. The latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra raised its retail price by only 8.3% from its predecessor, despite a surge in memory costs.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics' average selling price (ASP) for smartphones in the first quarter of this year was $270, the same as a year earlier, making it the only major maker to keep prices frozen.
