Samsung is taking a big step forward on both processing and LTE speeds with its next mobile system on a chip. The chip, called the Exynos 9 Series 8895, is supposed to perform 27 percent faster than its predecessor and consume 40 percent less power. It’s also Samsung’s first to support gigabit LTE, offering much faster speeds on networks that support it.
Samsung’s first Exynos 9 chip is faster, uses less power, and supports gigabit LTE
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
The big gains come from Samsung shifting over to a 10nm process for this chip series, allowing it to make a more efficient processor. That means Samsung is following right behind Qualcomm on the move from a 14nm process to a 10nm process. Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon SoC, the 835, also uses a 10nm process and supposed includes speed improvements and a 25 percent power reduction.
There’s no good way to say which company’s 10nm SoC will come out on top until we check them out, but today’s announcement suggests that they’re likely to stay about on par. Top chips from Samsung and Qualcomm have tended to be roughly equivalent, with each performing a little better in some areas (be it battery usage or graphics) and a little worse in others.
The chip is already in mass production, so it should show up soon
The Exynos 8895 has an octa-core processor, and its GPU is supposed to include graphics improvements for 4K VR and gaming. Samsung says the processor supports video recording at 120FPS 4K and cameras with a resolution up to 28MP. It also supports dual camera setups, allowing for features like the iPhone 7 Plus’ portrait mode.
On LTE, Samsung says the chip is capable of doing 1 Gbps in download speeds and 150 Mbps in upload speeds. That’s likely far from what you’ll get in the real world when using a phone that has this SoC, but it’s going to mean faster speeds, to some extent, regardless. Samsung achieves the higher speeds by adding support for up to five carrier aggregation — a carrier-side tech update that basically means the phone receives multiple data streams at once.
Samsung says the 8895 is currently in mass production, which means we should see it in a phone very soon. Chances are, that’ll be the Galaxy S8, which is supposed to be unveiled next month. Samsung tends to put Snapdragon chips in Galaxy phones headed to the US and Europe and Exynos chips in phones that end up in Asia, so the 8895 will likely end up in one model or another of the S8.
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