Samsung has unveiled the latest Exynos 9825 chipset just in time for the launch of arguably its biggest device of 2019, the Galaxy Note 10.
It’s the first smartphone chip built using 7-nanometer EUV (extreme ultra-violet) silicon manufacturing that Samsung unveiled back in October 2018. The chip is similar to the Exynos 9820, which was made using 8-nanometer LPP tech. The new chip will likely be more powerful and efficient, but Samsung has yet to say by how much.
While this is a newer chipset, it does share some common traits with the older 9820. It is still an octa-core CPU that incorporates two custom Mongoose cores, dual Cortex-A75 cores, and four Cortex-A55 cores. It still retains the Mali-G76 MP12 CPU, support for UFS 3.0 storage and up to 8K video recording.
The Exynos 9825 has the same Cheetah M4 cores and Mali-G76 GPU as the 9820, but Samsung has not listed the die size or certain key processor CPU and GPU speeds. It did say, however, that the GPU would run at higher clock speed, so it will outperform its predecessor, especially for mobile gaming.
Other features on the chip are a 4G LTE modem that tops out at 2Gbps and Samsung’s “neural processing unit” that will power AI photography and augmented reality features. 5G is not built into the processor, so Samsung will likely use its Exynos Modem 5100 for 5G variants of the Note 10.
Samsung’s Exynos 9820, featured mainly in Korean variants of the Galaxy S10, was considerably larger and less power efficient than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip powering US Galaxy S10 models. That is likely because the Exynos 9820 was built using Samsung’s 8-nanometer LPP tech, while the Snapdragon 855 was manufactured using TSMC’s 7-nanometer, known-EUV process.
Now, Samsung has likely narrowed that gap, though again, it didn’t say by how much. The company might be saving the news for the Galaxy Note 10 launch, though at this point, it seems likely that US versions will feature the Snapdragon 855 processor, as usual.
