Samsung's VIA Telecom decision attracting more attention

Market Watch has published a correction and edition to statements from Business Wire about Samsung's recent decision to get CDMA chips from VIA Telecom instead of Qualcomm for its new Droid Charge phone.

"In what ABI Research sees as a significant shift in component sourcing strategy, Samsung has chosen Via Telecom to supply the CDMA chipset for new Droid "CHARGE" handset that it is providing to the US market via Verizon. This may represent the first salvo of a market assault on Qualcomm's long-undisputed command of CDMA markets in the US and elsewhere. In addition to the Via Telecom CDMA chip, Samsung is using its own proprietary baseband chip for the LTE.

According to vice president of engineering James Mielke, "We have been following Samsung's decision-making closely for some time, and we see a trend towards using suppliers from closer to home, in the East-Asia region. For example, the RF for both CDMA and LTE in this phone is supplied by Korean vendor FCI."

This represents Via Telecom's first venture into the CDMA market in the United States, although ABI Research believes versions of this phone will ship into all of Samsung's CDMA markets worldwide." - Source.