What you should know about Samsung’s chipset return

After a protracted historical past within the customized cellular processor recreation, Samsung considerably unexpectedly dropped its Exynos chipset from the Galaxy S23 collection, opting to make use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip solely — a “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” to be exact. Whereas unconfirmed, troubled improvement and doubtful efficiency have been the possible culprits behind Samsung’s choice.

With a semiconductor restructure properly underway, rumors are circulating that Samsung is getting ready to return to chipset motion sooner than anticipated with an upcoming Exynos 2400 cellular processor. Whereas nonetheless unofficial, we’ve collected publicly accessible info to piece collectively what we’d anticipate from Samsung’s subsequent flagship chip.

Will there be an Exynos 2400 processor, and when will it arrive?

Samsung has traditionally launched new processors with the arrival of its next-gen flagship smartphones. Samsung’s final cellular processor was the Exynos 2200 contained in the Galaxy S22 collection. Presumably, the Exynos 2300 was destined for the S23 vary however was ignored, leaving us on the Exynos 2400 for early 2024’s Samsung Galaxy S24 collection. Not less than in accordance with an rising variety of web rumors.

It was initially anticipated that Samsung would possibly skip a few generations amid its semiconductor restructuring. We might not see the Exynos 2400 in any respect; it might all be a rumor or info leaking about an inside product not destined for shoppers. If the Exynos 2400 does seem, we nonetheless anticipate Samsung to supply Snapdragon-powered handsets in many of the world, as there’s an ongoing partnership between the 2 manufacturers.

With that in thoughts, we may even see a really geographically restricted Exynos launch, equivalent to South Korea solely, it could be restricted to the bottom Galaxy S24 mannequin, or the chip might seem in a special product solely whereas Samsung places its semiconductor ambitions again on observe. Both method, the Exynos versus Snapdragon geographic rivalry may very well be about to begin up once more.

What options will the Exynos 2400 have?

We’re nonetheless a great distance from the potential launch of Samsung’s subsequent smartphone, however that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning out a bunch of early specs. Right here’s what we anticipate thus far.

Rumors already abound with potential specs, a few of which match what we might anticipate ourselves by following business information. The Exynos 2400 would virtually actually use the most recent Arm CPU cores, guaranteeing that the processor is aggressive with the competitors. The CPU is rumored to be configured in a relatively unique 1+2+3+4 setup for 10 cores in whole.

The Exynos 2400 CPU is alleged to include a single high-performance Arm Cortex-X4 clocked at 3.1GHz, two Cortex-A720 cores at 2.9GHz, one other two A720s at 2.6GHz, and 4 power-efficient Cortex-A520 cores clocked as much as 1.8GHz. Apparently, this differs from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s rumored eight-core, 1+2+3+2 association. We’ll possible additionally see cache variations between the 2 Cortex-A720 clusters, although it’s uncertain Samsung will ever element this low-level info.

Transferring to the most recent ArmV9.2 cores means the Exynos 2400 can be 64-bit solely. The Android ecosystem has virtually solely shifted to 64-bit anyway, with the Play Retailer serving 64-bit apps since late 2021 and China’s shops just lately shifting over too. This variation possible received’t have a lot bearing on the consumer expertise, aside from a couple of legacy functions that will stop to operate.

One of many Exynos 2200’s differentiating components was its Xclipse 920 GPU, constructed on AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics structure. Full with ray-tracing capabilities that bested the competitors in benchmarks, this first-generation try confirmed promise, and it was a disgrace to not see how this advanced in 2023.

The Exynos 2400 is rumored to function a way more highly effective RDNA 2 implementation, named the Xclipse 940, and sporting twice the graphics compute items. That possible received’t fairly scale as much as 2x the efficiency, though there are clock-speed adjustments to think about too. Nonetheless, this all suggests a major efficiency enchancment for players that might shut the hole and even perhaps overtake the competitors. Relying on its rival’s next-gen beneficial properties, in fact.

Importantly, the RDNA 2 structure accommodates ray tracing accelerators inside every compute unit. Exynos already seems to have a wholesome lead right here, and the next-gen chip might push Samsung properly out in entrance of the competitors on this regard.

Subsequent-gen modem and AI

Synthetic Intelligence is 2023’s large buzzword and Samsung will undoubtedly make enhancements right here. AI operations per second, a relatively meaningless statistic by itself, are rumored to clock in at 44 TOPS. Stories recommend that this determine received’t fairly match the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s 60 TOPS, nevertheless it all will depend on what may be completed with these operations, what bit-depths are supported, and the way environment friendly the NPU is in comparison with operating duties on the CPU.

On the networking aspect, Samsung introduced its Exynos 5300 modem in early 2023, with headline options together with 10Gbps obtain and three.87 add speeds. This half is rumored to be heading to the Google Tensor G3 however appears considerably just like the capabilities already touted by the unnamed modem within the Exynos-powered Galaxy S22. Nonetheless, it does function extra two-way satellite tv for pc communication tech, which we think about will make its solution to the S24. We additionally anticipate a future Exynos modem to go a step additional, presumably boasting superior service aggregation applied sciences, improved energy effectivity, and different options within the newer 3GPP 5G Launch 18.

Lastly, the Exynos 2400 is reported to help blazing-fast UFS 4.0 reminiscence, LPDDR5X RAM at as much as 8.5Gbps, in addition to 320MP imaging and 8K60 video help by way of the picture sign processor. Whether or not or not all these options find yourself supported within the Galaxy S24 stays to be seen. Samsung has a historical past of chopping some capabilities to make sure function parity when dabbling in a number of chipsets.

Because the potential lynchpin of Samsung’s subsequent flagship smartphone, not less than in some areas, there are a few issues we actually need Samsung to place proper with the Exynos 2400.

No throttling, most efficiency

Excessive on the record of each Exynos-enthusiasts wishlist can be for the approaching era’s efficiency potential to be realized in the actual world. Regardless of loads of on-paper promise, earlier Exynos fashions have struggled to maintain up with the competitors when it got here to retail units.

Within the case of the Exynos 2200, this wasn’t helped by the subpar efficiency of Samsung Foundries’s 4nm manufacturing node. Excessive temperatures led Samsung to throttle the efficiency of its chip, decreasing recreation body charges after only a very quick time. The same subject affected the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, additionally constructed on Samsung 4nm, however Qualcomm moved over to rival foundry TSMC to sidestep the difficulty in subsequent chips.

Samsung Foundries has moved on to its improved fourth-generation 4nm node and is gearing up its second-generation 3nm course of for mass manufacturing, which Samsung claims is as much as 22% quicker and 34% extra energy environment friendly than the earlier 4nm era. The Exynos 2400 will virtually actually be produced on one in every of its newest nodes, though some stories trace on the newest 4nm relatively than 3nm node. Hopefully, that can consign earlier efficiency points to historical past, however we received’t know till we now have silicon in our palms.

No extra Exynos verus Snapdragon compromises

One of many good issues about Samsung shifting solely to Snapdragon is that nobody is short-changed on efficiency or options primarily based on the place they stay. Each Galaxy S23 performs the identical, and we actually don’t need to return to the previous imbalanced days with the S24 collection.

Whereas chipset variations will inevitably lead to some efficiency differentials, an important factor is that almost all of consumer experiences are equivalent. Which means equal sustainable gaming efficiency, image high quality, AI capabilities, and networking stability. If that’s not going to be the case with the Exynos 2400 versus Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, then a extra restricted launch can be preferable till the collection is extra comparable.

There’s nonetheless a solution to go till Samsung unveils the Galaxy S24 collection, and the Exynos 2400 may very well be proper up there as one of many extra thrilling components of the announcement. That’s, in fact, if Samsung is certainly engaged on the chip for industrial launch. So much stays up within the air.