Google’s Pixel smartphone will use a 5G modem by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and this fetches a first win for the latter in the US market which is mostly dominated by Qualcomm Inc.

In Asia and Europe, Samsung makes great use of its Exynos modem technology in its own flagship smartphones. However, it has long relied on Qualcomm to supply modems for US variants.

This is partly due to Qualcomm's experience in millimeter-wave networking, a type of 5G networking that provides the fastest speeds available with the new networks.

Samsung claims that its new modem technology supports millimeter-wave networking, and Google claims that its new phones will support millimeter-wave networks in the same way that previous Pixel models did, though neither business would say whether or not they are working together on the new Pixel.

Winning Google's Pixel business gives Samsung its first big chance to show off its chipmaking expertise to the rest of the phone industry, which has long been wary of buying a critical component from a bitter competitor, according to Kevin Krewell, the principal analyst at TIRIAS Research. The Korean firm has never before provided its 5G modem chip expertise to an outside firm.

Whereas Qualcomm also stated that it kept its expertise advantage since its millimeter wave expertise was based on multiple processors as well as the modem. Qualcomm remarks that its modem is insufficient to handle millimeter waves on phones.

To date, Qualcomm chips have been utilized to tap millimeter-wave networks in all good phones released in the United States, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Earlier this month, CIO Insider reported that Google decided to indigenously develop its very own smartphone processor called for its yet-to-be-released Pixel 6 and Pixel Pro smartphone this year. There again this decision seems to reflect that the tech giant also plans to move on from banking on Qualcomm which has bolstered the tech giant’s android devices for nearly 15 years. To make its smartphones use less power, Google is deploying an ARM-based architecture as there’s another benefit coming out of it, that is, it can be used in mobile devices like phones, tablets, and laptops. However, Google will still rely on Qualcomm to receive components for its budget-friendly A Series. As a matter of fact, the tech giant’s next phone named 5a will still house a Qualcomm-made chipset.

Further, in the past, Apple had also taken the silicon route for its new computers.

Back to Samsung, rumors say that the company might supply the 5G modem technology as well.

Samsung's decision to provide Pixel's modem expertise is critical because the Korean firm is one of only three companies on the planet capable of producing 5G modems, which connect devices to wireless knowledge networks.