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Did you know that the first Exynos chip isn't even called Exynos?
Samsung is one of the few smartphone makers capable of designing their own high-end chipsets, along with Apple and Huawei (until the US trade ban stops that). The South Korean company's Exynos processor has been a key part of its flagships for years, including the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series, and even smartphones from other brands.
Where does it really start? Let's take a look at the history of the flagship Samsung Exynos processor, from the first phones with this chip to today's super phones.
2010: when Samsung's flagship chipset was available. name Hummingbird
To know the history of Samsung Exynos, let's start with Samsung's first Galaxy S smartphone, launched in 2010 and powered from the start by an in-house chipset. However, this was not the debut of Exynos as this chipset was called Hummingbird.
Hummingbird 45nm was later renamed Exynos 3 Single, and it was a capable chipset at the time. Samsung's internal processor featured a 1 GHz single-core Cortex-A8 processor at a time when 1 GHz mobile processors were rare. In fact, the manufacturer claims that it was the first 1 GHz processor in the mobile market when it was launched in 2009.
Hummingbird chipset with PowerVR SGX540 GPU, supporting 800 x 600 displays (not too impressive considering Apple's 960 x 640 iPhone 4 launch) and 1080p recording support (beating the 720p of the iPhone 4). Other specs such as LPDDR2 RAM and eMMC 4.3 support were high end at the time.
It's also worth noting that this was the only Samsung chipset used on the devices. For Nexus devices, it is used in the Nexus S. Other Nexus and Pixel devices all use Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon except the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2011 (which uses Silicon TI OMAP).
Featured Smartphones:< /p>
Samsung Galaxy S, Google Nexus S
2011: The first Exynos chip
The first Samsung Exynos chipset in history (barring the renaming chip) is the Exynos 4210 Dual, which debuted in the 2011 Galaxy S2 and is part of the first wave of smartphone processors. dual-core, offering a 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 processor.
A point. The other notable Exynos 4210 Dual is the once-popular Mali-400MP4 GPU. , which is the first time we've seen an Arm GPU inside a Galaxy S series flagship. This trend continues to this day, despite its presence. It looks like the change will come in 2022, when Samsung will have a chipset plan to use an AMD GPU.
This chipset has some commonalities with its predecessor, such as a 45nm manufacturing process, LPDDR2 RAM support, and 1080p/30fps video recording. However, it supports higher resolution displays (1440 x 900) and supports eMMC 4.4. A weird feature that is listed as supporting a 5MP camera, but in fact the chip is used in phones with 8MP rear cameras.
Exynos 4210 Dual is also used on the Galaxy. that of very large phones at a time when large screens were not common. Moreover, this chipset was also used on Meizu's first phone (Meizu MX). The Chinese brand has continued to use Exynos chipsets in many of its devices.
Smartphone highlights:
Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy Note, Meizu MX.
p>< p>2012:Going Quad-CoreThe biggest mobile chip trend of 2012 was the move to quad-core processors and Samsung is part of that trend with the Exynos 4412. New chipset launched inside the Galaxy S3 but also on the Galaxy Note 2 six months later, but with a slight increase in CPU.
We have a quad-core Cortex-A9 processor, double the number of cores seen in last year's flagship SoC. It is still based on the same Cortex-A9 processor, but the quad-core arrangement is a fashionable change as Android and various third-party apps support multi-core.
Gamers will feel a bit disappointed, as the Exynos 4412 uses the same Mali-400MP4 GPU in the previous year's Exynos CPU. It also has the same basic eMMC support and 1080p/30fps video recording. On the other hand, the Exynos 4412 features a 32nm process, which is a significant improvement, along with support for 1440 x 900 screen resolution.
This processor also appeared on both phones. Lenovo first generation Galaxy Note 8.0 phones and tablets.
Featured Smartphones
: Lenovo K860/K860i, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S3.
< p>2013: Overcoming the quad-coreThe smartphone industry has rapidly moved from single-core processors to dual-core and then quad-core processors in just a few years. But 2013 marks the first time Samsung has adopted octa-core processors in its high-end phones. The 28nm Exynos 5410 makes its debut inside the Galaxy S4 and offers a big.SMALL design. That means a cluster of four high-powered Cortex-A15 CPU cores and a cluster of four Cortex-A7 cores for light-duty work. But there is a rather significant problem with this SoC.
Exynos 5410 has a major limitation that it can only run one cluster at a time. This means you can't have all eight CPU cores active at the same time, just like you can't have a single Cortex-A7 and a single Cortex-A15 active at the same time. It can only be four running Cortex-A7 cores or four active Cortex-A15 cores. It was a strange move that defeats the purpose of the octa-core switch.
Fortunately, Samsung released the Exynos 5420 in late 2013 and came up with a more streamlined octa-core design. . The upgraded processor allows small and large cores to run at the same time. The chipset also replaced the PowerVR GPU with the Mali T628 MP6 GPU, which Samsung says has been "improved" over the PowerVR. In other respects, it's the same as the Exynos 5410.
An interesting fact is that the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy Note 3 offers 4K/30fps recording, but the Exynos version only stops at 1080p/60fps. . This situation will be reversed in the following years. The Exynos variant would also not support LTE, but rather HSPA+ at 42.2 Mbps.
Smartphone highlighted
: Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
2014: Exynos overtakes Qualcomm in 64-bit technology
In 2014, Samsung released Galaxy S5 with only Snapdragon 801 version. Luckily, Samsung continued to introduce Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge later in the year powered by Exynos chip.
Exynos 5433 20nm was Samsung's flagship processor in 2014 and it really beat Qualcomm in the competition. It is an octa-core processor with Arm's first 64-bit processor cores. We have four Cortex-A57 cores for complex tasks and four Cortex-A53 cores for less power-hungry operations.
This chipset has Arm Mali-T760 MP6 GPU, RAM support. LPDDR3e and the same screen resolution as the previous year processor. Camera performance has increased as the Exynos 5433 supports a 3.7MP selfie camera, a 16MP rear camera and 4K video recording, as well as 120fps video recording at 1080p.
Selfie camera resolution seems extremely low, but the truth is that no Samsung flagship supported a selfie camera close to 5MP level back then. We will have to wait a year for fuller support on this.
Samsung's 2014 chipset also brings LTE connectivity, delivering 300Mbps download speeds with Cat 6 support. This support helped bridge the connectivity gap between Qualcomm and Exynos variants.
Featured smartphone:
Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy Note Edge.
2015: best processor of the year
< p> Exynos 7420 14nm may be the flagship processor of Android 2015. It's not the first Android 64-bit processor or even the first 64-bit Exynos chipset, but it was still great compared to the offers from Qualcomm, MediaTek and Huawei at the time. This is the best Samsung Exynos chipset in history at the time of its release.Exynos 7420 uses the same octa-core processor as its predecessor, has four Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 cores. We also have the same Mali-T760 GPU, but with two additional cores (MP8) for graphics enhancement. But this chipset introduced a smaller design process, only 14nm, supporting 4K screen resolution (4096 x 2160, 3840 x 2400), LPDDR4 RAM support and support for support for UFS 2.0 storage.
Other notable specs include support for a single 20MP main camera, 8MP selfie camera, and 4K/30fps video recording with HEVC.
This processor is exclusive to the series. Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5. Reports at the time suggested that Samsung had discontinued the Snapdragon 810 due to overheating issues.
Featured smartphone:
Meizu Pro 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Samsung Galaxy S6 series
2016: Exynos with custom processor
Samsung has relied on Arm processors on all of its Exynos processors up to this point. But 2016's Exynos 8890 marked a big change as it used Samsung's first-generation Mongoose processor. Specifically, we have four Mongoose M1 cores paired with four Arm Cortex-A53 cores.
This 14nm processor features the Mali-T880 MP12 GPU, which supports 4K screen resolution and supports LPDDR4 RAM. This is the first time that Samsung's processor is supported by dual cameras, the highest being 12MP + 12MP (or a 24MP main camera), as well as a selfie camera up to 13MP.
Exynos 8890 also supports 4K /60fps recording support, but unfortunately Galaxy S7 Exynos devices do not have this feature. This is probably because the Snapdragon 835 used on some Galaxy S7 depending on the market does not support 4K/60fps recording. So, Samsung may want to maintain feature parity.
Outstanding smartphone
: Meizu Pro 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 series
p>< p>2017: Breakthrough in Machine Learning
Exynos 8895 is Samsung's flagship processor for 2017 and a few small tweaks led to big changes. The company's new processor is built on a 10nm process, which promises to be very power efficient. It also uses an octa-core processor design consisting of four Mongoose M2 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. Samsung has also upgraded the GPU department, opting for Mali-G71 MP20 graphics.
Other notable features of the Exynos 8895 include 4K screen resolution, Gigabit LTE connectivity, compatibility, prefer UFS 2.1 storage, and LPDDR4X RAM support. Samsung has also launched a "vision processing unit" or VPU, which is responsible for computer vision tasks such as scene and object recognition. This will mark the first major breakthrough in the field of machine learning silicon.
The chipset has also been improved on the camera side, offering a dual ISP design with one core used for heavy image serving effects and the rest of the core used for less complex operations. You also have the option to record in 4K/120fps, support up to 28MP camera or support 16MP + 16MP dual cameras and up to 28MP selfie camera.
The processor's ancillary features don't end there again, as it offers specialized security to handle biometric authentication (e.g., fingerprint, iris), flash memory protection, and other security concerns. .
< p>Featured Smartphones: Meizu 15 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy Note 8
2018: just an upgrade
Looks like the 2018 Exynos 9810 is more of an upgrade from the Exynos 8895 than a game-changing revolution. But we saw two notable upgrades on the CPU and GPU.
In the case of the processor, Samsung is keeping the dual-cluster eight-core design, but with all-new processor cores. This time we have four third-generation Mongoose CPU cores paired with four Cortex-A55 cores. And A55 cores remain in Samsung's flagship Exynos processor through 2021.
On the graphics side, the company switched to the Arm Mali-G72 MP18 GPU. Samsung has chosen to use many more core shaders than the SoC Kirin 970 from the competing brand Huawei (Mali-G72 MP12).
For the rest, the chipset is still built on the 10nm process and still supports it. LPDDR4X RAM, UFS 2.1, 4K screen resolution and 4K/120fps recording. However, mobile data speeds increase to 1.2Gbps over LTE and dual 16MP + 16MP cameras (as well as 24MP single cameras).
It will also be the last Exynos flagship processor used by the Chinese brand Meizu. We've seen Vivo use Exynos silicon in recent years, but only mid-range chipsets.
Smartphone highlights:
Meizu 15 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Samsung Galaxy S9, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite.
2019: Trends for Samsung's future chipset
Samsung Exynos 9820 set a number of trends that the company continues to embrace. For starters, we saw a MediaTek-inspired evolution for a tri-cluster processor, featuring two heavy-duty Mongoose M4 processor cores, two Cortex-A75 cores for mid-level tasks, and four Cortex-A55 cores for light-duty.
The Korean manufacturer also presented a neural processing unit (NPU) for the first time, after Huawei. In fact, Samsung claims that the Exynos 9820's NPU can perform machine learning tasks up to seven times faster than last year's Exynos 9810.
Samsung also offers the Mali-G76 MP12 GPU. , 40% improvement compared to Exynos 9810, 35% more energy saving. So what do the CPU and GPU upgrades mean for the battle with Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors?
AndroidAuthority's test shows that the Exynos 9820 beats the Snapdragon 855 in single-core CPU performance, thanks to those powerful custom CPU cores. But that might be the only bright spot for Samsung, as Snapdragon offers better performance.
However, the Exynos 9820 still has a lot to offer users. They are built on an 8nm process, enhanced hardware security, 2Gbps download speed over 4G, UFS 3.0 storage support, LPDDR4X RAM and 4K screen resolution.
Probably counts. The most impressive feature was 8K/30fps video recording, but none of the Exynos-powered phones released that year offered that option. Again, Samsung may be trying to balance the feature set, as the Snapdragon 855 chipset lacks this option.
Exynos 9820 also offers a huge ISP capable of supporting up to five sensors. , a 22MP main camera (and 22MP front camera) or dual 16MP cameras and 4K/120fps video.
Samsung also released the Exynos 9825 in late 2019 and it was used in the Galaxy Note 10 series. Unfortunately, AndroidAuthority's G-speed test results show that Samsung's new chipset still lags behind the Snapdragon 855 chipset. from Qualcomm, especially when it comes to graphics performance.
Smartphone floating. on:
Samsung Galaxy S10 series, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series< /p>
2020: Samsung Exynos at its worst
Perhaps one of the biggest signs that the Exynos 990 is a failure for Samsung is that this chipset isn't even used in Galaxy S20 machines in its home country of Korea. After all, Samsung has traditionally used Exynos for its flagships in its home market.
Exynos 990 is a very good flagship SoC in terms of specifications, with a 7nm design and a triple CPU cluster. The processor offers two Mongoose M5 cores for heavy-duty tasks, two Cortex-A76 cores for mid-level tasks, and four Cortex-A55 cores for less demanding operations. It will be the last flagship processor from Exynos to integrate the Samsung-developed Mongoose processor core, when Samsung shuts down its custom processor division at the end of 2019.
Graphically, Exynos 990 equipped with Arm Mali-G77 MP11 GPU. So how does the Exynos 990 compare to the Snapdragon 865 chipset used in US and Korean Galaxy phones? Not so good.
AndroidAuthority's tests show that the Galaxy S20 Plus running Exynos 990 lags the Snapdragon version in many CPU and GPU benchmarks. At least the 2019 Exynos 9820 offers better single-core performance.
The rest of the chipset, however, has been very well designed, showing that Samsung is still capable of creating top-tier features in other areas. . We have a 5G modem that supports mmWave and lower standards at 6 GHz (up to 7.2 Gbps) and supports UFS 3.0 storage and LPDDR5 RAM. There's also a dual-core NPU and DSP that delivers up to 15 TOPS (trillion operations per second), on par with the Snapdragon 865.
Samsung's 2020 flagship processor is also a first for the first time. supports high screen refresh rate, 120Hz in QHD+ or 60Hz in 4K. The company will bring this support to the Galaxy S20 and Note 20 Ultra series, the S20 Ultra offers 120Hz in FHD+ The Note 20 Ultra offers 120Hz in QHD+ resolution.
Exynos 990 also supports a fairly powerful camera Powerful, 108MP single camera support, 24.5MP + 24.5MP dual camera support, up to six sensors, and the ability to process data from three sensors simultaneously.
Outstanding smartphone:
p>Samsung Galaxy S20 series, Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series.
2021: end of an era?
It is also not surprising that many people think that 2021 is an end year for Samsung Division Exynos. Finally, the company announced a partnership with graphics giant AMD to deliver the GPUs expected on high-end phones in 2022. This is also the first year without custom CPU cores, as now it is based solely on the technology Arm.
Fortunately, the 5nm Exynos 2100 came out and became one of the best Samsung Exynos chipsets in recent years. We have a triple-cluster processor almost identical to the rival Snapdragon 888 SoC, with a powerful Cortex-X1 processor, three Cortex-A78 processor cores and four Cortex-A55 cores. Then there's the Mali-G78 MP14 GPU, which doesn't use as many shader cores as the Kirin 9000 (Mali-G78 MP24) GPU, but still promises an almost 50% increase in performance over the previous one. 'Exynos 990 from last year.
< p>How does this affect strength? The AndroidAuthority site compared the Exynos 2100-powered Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Snapdragon 888 variant, and it's certainly a much closer race than last year. Specifically, the CPU performance between the two variants is almost on par. The Snapdragon still wins the GPU test, but the gap is much smaller than last year.Samsung's 2021 chipset also features a 5G modem built into the Exynos for the first time, instead of a separate modem. . heart. Samsung says this enables AI performance at 26 TOPS.
The rest of the Exynos 2100 spec sheet is pretty high-end for 2021, with LPDDR5 RAM support, UFS 3.1 storage support. , 144Hz refresh rate at QHD+, 120Hz at 4K resolution, and AV1 decoding support. AV1 will provide significant bandwidth savings when streaming video through AV1 compatible services.
Samsung's chipset is also powerful in-camera, with support for a 200MP single camera, 32MP + 32MP dual cameras, up to six sensors, and 8K/30fps video recording.
Outstanding Smartphones:
Samsung Galaxy S21 series.
2022: what to expect next?
Next year promises to mark a new era in the history of Samsung Exynos chipsets, as the company moves to AMD GPUs. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su has revealed that this GPU will be based on the company's RDNA2 architecture and will support Ray Tracing and Variable rate shading (VRS).
Dr. Su added that Samsung will share more information about the new chipset "later this year". Additionally, Samsung previously confirmed to Android Authority that the successor to the Exynos 2100 will indeed feature AMD graphics. So it looks like we should expect a late 2021 launch and the first commercial products with this chipset in 2022.
Samsung has also focused heavily on Arm processors this year, so the company's next flagship chipset will continue this trend by offering one Cortex-X2 core, three Cortex-A710 cores and four Cortex-A510 cores.
Five 2022 is like the start of a new era for Samsung Exynos processors. Although the first Exynos chipset offered by AMD may not be impressive enough to change the mobile CPU war, it will lay the groundwork for future efforts.
Chip. First Exynos processor with AMD GPU exhibits performance scores, crushing iPhone 12 Pro Max in graphics performance