There is a lot going on at Samsung. Just a few days after showing off its foldable smartphone, the Korean company has announced its next-gen Exynos 9820 processor. The octa-core 9 Series chipset will enter mass production towards the end of 2018, just in time to find its way into the Galaxy S10 flagship. It is also expected to run the next year’s Galaxy Note 10. The Exynos 9820 chip is based on the 8nm LPP (Low Power Plus) FinFET process technology, which should lead to better performance and energy efficiency.
Exynos 9820 is going to be a beast with enhanced security
The Korean company has integrated an improved neural processing unit (NPU) in the processor for on-device artificial intelligence (AI) functions. The new NPU is capable of processing AI tasks seven times faster than its predecessor, significantly enhancing the AI capabilities of a smartphone. Samsung has followed in the footsteps of Apple and Huawei, both of which have built processors with a dedicated AI chip.
The Exynos 9820 processor has what Samsung calls a “tri-cluster” architecture. It has two custom-designed cores, two ARM Cortex-A75 cores, and four ARM Cortex-A55 cores. Samsung claims the new 8nm custom CPU improves multi-core performance by 15% and single-core performance by up to 20% with the improved task scheduler compared to its predecessor. It also offers 40% better energy-efficiency.
The chipset includes an LTE-Advanced Pro modem that supports LTE Category 20. It enables download speeds of up to 2.0Gbps with 8x carrier aggregation (CA) and uplink speed of up to 316Mbps. The current Exynos 9810 has a peak download speed of 1.2Gbps. The improved download speed can be attributed to 4×4 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output), 256-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), and eLAA (Enhanced Licensed-Assisted Access).
It’s a beast when it comes to graphics performance. It runs the Mali-G76 MP12 graphics processor. The new GPU has wider execution engines with double the number of lanes. It offers up to 40% graphical performance improvement and 35% improvement in energy-efficiency compared to the current Exynos 9810.
Samsung has also upgraded the Exynos 9820’s image signal processor (ISP). It will offer faster autofocus and support up to five sensors including an infrared sensor. It can handle sensors of up to 22MP on the front and rear or 16MP dual camera setups. It also supports high dynamic range (HDR) recording in 10-bit color. Other features include 8K video recording at 30fps and 4K video recording at 150fps.
More importantly, the Exynos 9820 uses physically unclonable function (PUF) to store your personal and biometric data in “perfect isolation.” It will ensure that your data is safe and secure.
What the rumor mill tells us about Galaxy S10
Samsung is reportedly working to launch three different versions of Galaxy S10. Two of them will be direct successors to Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, while the third one will have a more affordable price tag to compete with the likes of OnePlus 6T and Xiaomi’s Pocophone.
According to reliable tipster Evan Blass, the Galaxy S10 will have a “punch hole” style front camera, meaning the phone will have a fully bezel-less design with only a small circular hole near the top for the selfie camera. Samsung has just unveiled a similar Infinity-O display. It would sport an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor integrated under the display. At least one variant of the S10 would sport triple cameras on the back – a standard lens, a wide-angle lens, and a telephoto sensor.
https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/1062313739842654208
Separately, concept designer and tipster Benjamin Geskin said in a tweet that the entry-level Galaxy S10 would feature a flat Infinity-O display, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, dual cameras on the back, and at least 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The phone could run Qualcomm’s existing Snapdragon 845 SoC rather than the upcoming Snapdragon 8150. It will help Samsung keep the costs down.
#GalaxyS10 budget-model:
Flat “Infinity-O” Display
Dual camera
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
4+64GB / 6+64GB / 6+128GB
Snapdragon 845 or 8150
$650-750— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) November 12, 2018
Samsung is expected to unveil all three Galaxy S10 variants at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in late February next year.
