At the Samsung Tech Day 2019, the company announced two chips that will be specifically tailored for future mobile devices to make intensive use of video and artificial intelligence (AI) applications as well as 5G communications. The Exynos 990 processor comes with a 120Hz refresh-rate display driver, which will make gaming and content consumption experiences smoother by reducing screen tearing and enable fluid animations even on foldable devices.
Samsung said that both the Exynos 990 premium mobile processor and the 5G Exynos Modem 5123 are based on the 7-nanometer (nm) fabrication process technology and use extreme ultra-violet (EUV) tech.
With the Exynos 990, new levels of mobile gaming and other graphics-intensive operations can be enabled by the inclusion of an embedded Arm Mali-G77 GPU – the first premium GPU based on the new Valhall architecture, which improves graphic performance and power efficiency by up to 20 per cent. This efficiency boost is in addition to an overall 20 per cent performance boost from a powerful and flexible tri-cluster CPU structure, which comprises two powerful custom cores, two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores, and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores.
According to Samsung, the Exynos 990 also features a dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) with an improved digital signal processor (DSP) that can perform over ten-trillion operations (TOPs) per second. The NPU enables data to be processed on device, instead of the going through a network and a server, for added efficiency and security. This will also help enhance AI-based features such as facial recognition and scene detection for rich mobile experiences.
The 5G Exynos Modem 5123 is one of the first 5G modem chips manufactured using a 7nm EUV process. The modem supports virtually all networks – from 5G’s sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums to 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA, and 4G LTE, with outstanding downlink speed across the board. In 5G, with up to 8-carrier aggregation (8CA), the modem delivers a maximum downlink speed of up to 5.1 gigabits per second (Gbps) in sub-6-gigahertz (GHz) and 7.35Gbps in mmWave or up to 3.0Gbps in 4G networks by supporting higher-order 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).
The Exynos 990 is designed to complement the 5G Exynos Modem 5123 speeds with a very wide memory bandwidth that supports LPDDR5 data rates of up to 5,500 megabits per second (Mb/s). Also, onboard is an advanced image signal processor (ISP) that supports up to six individual image sensors with concurrent processing of three. This enables pro-grade photography, with a resolution of up to 108-megapixels.
The Exynos 990 and the Exynos Modem 5123 are expected to be mass-produced by the end of this year.
