The evolution of SoCs is one of the keys in the advancement of the functionalities of mobility-oriented devices, both phones and tablets. And, at present, there are three great dominators of the market: Qualcomm, with its Snapdragon; Nvidia, with Tegra; and Samsung, with its Exynos. This last company could make a shocking announcement in February: a model with no less than 8 cores inside.
The architecture I would use is the ARM big little and, according to EETimes, this component would include in the same chip with manufacturing technology of 28 nm two SoCs with their corresponding cores. That is, on the one hand there would be a quad-core type Cortex-A7 (ARMv7) and other Cortex-A15…a two-in-one.
El Quad-core Cortex-A7 it would operate at a frequency of 1,2 GHz and would be used with less demanding applications, such as mail clients or music players. For its part, the model Cortex-A15 also quad-core, intended to offer maximum performance, it would offer a frequency of 1,8 GHz and a 2 MB L2 cache. The latter, the games will not resist.
What one would try to achieve with this new Exynos, whose name is not yet known, is improve the consumption section, since the most powerful part wouldn't be working unless necessary, so the energy requirement would be lower and, consequently, battery would be saved when the Cortex-A7 is working. Good news for users, in addition, we shouldn't miss the details of ARM's own comments: the benefits of big.little development are even greater than expected.
Could be the SoC of the future Samsung Galaxy S4
This would be great news, since if confirmed the new reference terminal of the Galaxy range would offer the perfect combo: a high-performance SoC that is capable of saving energy (one of the biggest demands from users) and a screen that is expected to be 5 inches with support for Full HD. That High-performance SoC has already seen improvements generation after generation, as shown by analysis of the performance of some recent Exynos.
Other usage options that are being considered, especially if Samsung is not able to arrive in time to include it in the Galaxy S4, are the inclusion of this new Exynos in Galaxy Note 3, the Chromebook range, and also Windows 8 tablets. Obviously, there are many options, but what is clear is that if this SoC is confirmed, Samsung could take a big step forward in energy efficiency.
ARM big.LITTLE architecture applied and real benefits
Focus big.LITTLE distributes the load between high-efficiency, high-performance clusters. The system automatically transfers threads based on demand: lightweight tasks to small nuclei and intensive processes to the large nuclei. This translates into less time with the CPU at maximum, more controlled temperatures and greater autonomy. In addition, the implementation with HMP allows all cores to work simultaneously when needed, without sacrificing efficiency.
Exynos Evolution: From Custom Octa to Xclipse GPU
Over time, Samsung took this approach further with the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. 8 Exynos Octa, made in 14 nm FinFET and with 64-bit kernelsThis generation introduced clusters with M1 custom cores (Mongoose) combined with Cortex-A53 and a GPU Mali-T880, achieving performance increases of over 30% and consumption reductions of nearly 10% compared to the previous generation. It also integrated a modem. LTE Cat. 12/13 capable of reaching up to 600 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload with carrier aggregation.
In the previous big.LITTLE field, Samsung also reinforced its catalog with Exynos as the 5422 (4x Cortex-A15 up to 2,1 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 up to 1,5 GHz) and the 5260 (4x Cortex-A15 + 2x Cortex-A7), supported by GPUs Mali-T628 with support OpenGL ES 3.0 and resolutions up to WQXGA, consolidating the balance between power and efficiency.
The most ambitious leap came with Exynos 2200, which incorporates the GPU xclipse 920 based on architecture RDNA2 from AMD. This change enabled new features in mobile devices such as hardware ray tracing y VRS, raising the bar for graphics. At the CPU level, it opted for a three-cluster structure with a Cortex-X2 high-performance, three Cortex-A710 balanced and four Cortex-A510 efficient, all in process 4nm EUV.
High-level connectivity, cameras, video and display
The most advanced iterations of Exynos integrate modems with 5G sub-6 and mmWave capable of reaching bandwidths close to 10 Gbps, as well as Wi ‑ Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and universal compatibility with systems GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo). In LTE generations, support for Cat. 12/13 It set a milestone for its sustained speed and low latency.
In imaging, their ISPs support sensors up to 200 SM and enable demanding video captures and streams: 8K and 4K at high rates, with new generation codecs such as AV1 for efficient decoding. The MFC It can decode up to 4K at 240 fps or 8K at 60 fps and encode up to 4K at 120 fps or 8K at 30 fps, while boosting extended playback.
On screen, panels up to 4K, with support HDR10 + and refresh rates of up to 144 Hz, functionalities that are combined with greater memory bandwidth (LPDDR5) and storage UFS 3.1 to speed up the experience. The NPU It also gains prominence, doubling the performance compared to previous generations and supporting FP16, INT8 e INT16 for efficient on-device AI.
Manufacturing and packaging: from FinFET to FOWLP
In addition to advancing in lithographs such as 14 nm y 4nm EUV, Samsung has taken a key step in packaging with FOWLP (Fan-out Wafer Level Package). By removing the PCB from the package, we obtain more I/O space, shorter interconnection lengths and faster signals with better losses. The wider base and thinner package favor the dissipation and efficiency: an increase in heat resistance of around 23% with a core under load and an approximate improvement of 8% with several active cores. This industrial aspect is also conditioned by relationships with foundries, such as TSMC, which influence node availability.
This approach allows to integrate more cores at a lower frequency while maintaining aggregate performance and reducing thermal peaks. Although it is a more expensive technology than traditional PoP packaging, its adoption in high-end Exynos has shown real benefits. At the same time, Samsung maintains strategic flexibility: in different generations it has alternated between Exynos y Snapdragon in certain markets, while competing and collaborating with foundries such as TSMC on a node-by-node and available capacity basis.
Exynos for the mid-range: balancing cost and performance
In the series aimed at the mid-range, Samsung has presented solutions in 5 nm like the Exynos 1380 y 1330The first combines four Cortex-A78 up to 2,4 GHz and four Cortex-A55 up to 2,0 GHz with GPU Mali-G68 MP5, support of L, UFS 3.1, screens FHD + at 144Hz and cameras up to 200 SMThe second, more contained, integrates two Cortex-A78 and six Cortex-A55 with Mali‑G68 MP2, compatibility with UFS 2.2 / 3.1, panels up to 120 Hz and sensors up to 108 SMboth with 5G integrated.
At the top-of-the-range CPU level, there has even been talk of a 10-core configuration in future iterations (a cluster with a very high-performance core, two large cores at high frequency, three large ones at low frequency and four efficient ones), and the possibility of GPUs based on new generations of RDNA or Mali alternatives, always with a focus on efficiency y sustained performance.
The roadmap that starts from that 8-core Exynos big.LITTLE with a view to February and reaches the advances in Xclipse GPUs, 5G modems, NPU, AV1 encoding and FOWLP packaging, draws Samsung's ambition to dominate the binomial power/consumptionIf that initial commitment is realized, the user wins: more hours of use, less throttling, and an ecosystem prepared for gaming, AI, and next-generation connectivity.
