Samsung has this week unveiled its next-gen Exynos chip, the processor that will equip its flagships this year, including the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy Note 9.
The octa-core Exynos 9810 (exynos 9 octa) will be speedier than its predecessor, with top speeds going all the way up to 2.9GHz. Samsung says single-performance will double, while multi-core performance is increased by around 40% compared to the Galaxy S8 chip. The chip is also supposed to be more energy efficient than last year’s processor, as it’s built on Samsung’s second-gen 10nm FinFET process.
Other features include “ultra-fast LTE” speeds, thanks to a 1.2Gbps LTE modem that’s embedded in the chip, as well as 6x carrier aggregation.
Samsung highlights several features the chip will make possible on future devices, including neural network-based deep learning and stronger security:
This cutting-edge technology allows the processor to accurately recognize people or items in photos for fast image searching or categorization, or through depth sensing, scan a user’s face in 3D for hybrid face detection. By utilizing both hardware and software, hybrid face detection enables realistic face-tracking filters as well as stronger security when unlocking a device with one’s face. For added security, the processor has a separate security processing unit to safeguard vital personal data such as facial, iris and fingerprint information.
In other words, Samsung is working on Face ID-like technology, but a true Face ID competitor won’t be ready for the Galaxy S9. iPhone X any one?
Samsung’s also promising “real-time out-of-focus photography,” up to 120fps video recording at Ultra HD (i.e. 4K) resolution, and better stabilization when capturing both images and video. Such silicon feature announcements aren’t usually guaranteed to make it into actual devices, but given how closely aligned Samsung’s Exynos chip development is with its Galaxy S release cadence, we can probably be more confident than usual that we’re looking at a rather detailed teaser for what’s to come in Samsung’s next flagship.
The issue now is that Samsung also uses Qualcomm’s chips in some countries due to licensing issues, which, in the case of the Galaxy S9, will probably mean the company will rely on the Snapdragon 845 alongside its latest Exynos. As each company’s processor becomes more sophisticated and tailored to particular applications, this might eventually lead to a fragmentation of features and capabilities in Samsung’s own flagship.
