Samsung Semiconductor has announced the mobile processor Exynos 980.
The biggest feature of Exynos 980 is that it integrates a 5G modem that was previously external. Both Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm provide independent chips for 5G modems, but Exynos 980 is expected to lower the 5G support threshold for smartphones and tablets by using them. The communication function supports 2G to sub 6GHz band and 5G, and it can communicate in gigabit class for LTE and 2.55Gbps for 5G.
Exynos 980 uses 8nm for semiconductor manufacturing. The CPU has 8 cores, 2 ARM Cortex-A77, and 6 Cortex-A55 power-saving cores. It also has an NPU in charge of processing on the AI side. In the case of the image processing engine, it can control up to 108 million pixel image sensors and 5 image sensors.
Production of the Exynos 980 is expected to begin by the end of the year. Related information can be found here .
Meanwhile, Huawei of China also introduced Kirin 990 5G and Kirin 990 that supports 4G communication during IFA 2019. The Kirin 990 5G is said to be the industry’s first flagship SoC to support 5G, according to Huawei. However, it does not support Milliwave 5G.
The Kirin 990 5G supports transmission rates of up to 2.3Gbps and up to 1.25Gbps. For reference, in the case of Qualcomm’s X55 modem that supports millimeter wave 5G, the downlink transmission rate reaches up to 7Gbps.
The Kirin 990 5G is an octa-core processor using a 7nm manufacturing process and is equipped with 10.3 billion transistors. Two high-performance cores run at 2.86GHz, two mid-performance cores run at 2.36GHz, and four high-efficiency cores run at 1.95GHz. It is accompanied by a 16-core GPU, Mali G76, and a smart cache system that can reduce bandwidth consumption by 15%.
The Kirin 990 5G also strengthened AI-related processing. High-performance dual-core NPU unit and swordsmanship are the core. In addition, it is explained that it has realized noise reduction technology similar to that of DSLR cameras with the 5th generation ISP. Huawei did not disclose a specific roadmap for the launch of the Kirin 990 5G-equipped smartphone, but the Mate 30 series is confirmed.