Exynos 8890 production reportedly starts for February Samsung Galaxy S7 launch

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is coming sometime next year, but that year begins in less than two months. That means that these phones have to be put together fairly soon. We’ve just found out about some software work being done, but one of the major hardware components of these phones is the chipset. Samsung is building its own, but it’s also partnering with Qualcomm for some of its phones’ brains. Turns out, as industry sources claim, that partnership has become critical this year for one big reason.

First off, it looks like Samsung’s satisfied with its Exynos 8890 product and its domestic supply chain — satisfied enough to start on mass production. What we’re learning now about the in-house chipset is that it will indeed contain eight cores, yet will likely consume power more efficiently than the newly-comeSnapdragon 820.

Speaking of the two, it seems that the Galaxy S7 might see an even split-distribution of the two SoCs, unlikeSamsung’s 2015 halo products which were all Exynos-powered. Sources say that there wouldn’t have been enough supply for Samsung to equip all its spring flagship units with Exynos 8890 processors. This isn’t the first components mix to occur on this very device.

Final tests on both Exynos and Snapdragon processors will be done next month and the Galaxy S7 should be cleared for a February release “smoothly as planned schedule.”

We don’t know if there will be a January launch event. Maybe things will just change. We still have time to see.

Source: etnews (Google Translate), hankooki (Google Translate – article text)
Via: SamMobile

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ARM's latest design brings 64-bit processors to smartwatches

It's no longer hard to find 64-bit processors in smartphones. In smartwatches, though, they're still a rarity -- and ARM wants to change that with its new Cortex-A35 processor design. The architecture promises the most energy-efficient 64-bit mobile chips yet, sipping 32 percent less power than the mid-range A53 even as it outruns the Cortex-A7 it's meant to replace (6 to 40 percent faster). It's extremely scalable, too. You can build full-fledged quad-core chips for entry-level smartphones, but you can also strip things back to make tiny chips for watches and activity trackers.

The first A35-based devices aren't likely to ship until late 2016, and it's too soon to say who's lining up to use the design. However, the technology holds a lot of promise for wearables and entry-level smartphones. While 64-bit isn't a cure-all (it doesn't automatically make devices faster, for instance), it unlocks the door to apps and features that depend on particularly complex number-crunching, like tougher encryption. You may well see smartwatches next year which do things that aren't even feasible today.

VIA: AnandTech

SOURCE: ARM

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Beastly Huawei Kirin 950 SoC goes official at last, early benchmarks look amazing

Huawei has certainly made great strides lately in smartphone manufacturing and especially Western visibilityafter a lengthy period of regional dominance, but if the Chinese OEM truly wants to challenge industry leader Samsung, it needs to at least devise a backup plan for when key component suppliers like Qualcomm mess up.

Ideally, Huawei would cut its reliance on the Snapdragon architects entirely, though the homebrewed Kirin chipset line isn’t there yet. But the newest family member, the oft-rumored Kirin 950, seems a very meaningful heavyweight contender on paper, matching or exceeding the raw power of the SD810, Samsung’s Exynos 7420, and possibly even the upcoming Snapdragon 820.

First things first, let us review the official specifications. Built on a 16nm FinFET node, and thus technically more energy-efficient than the 20nm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek’s Helio X20, but less so than the 14nm Exynos 7420, the Huawei Kirin 950 boasts two four-core CPU clusters arranged in a now standard big.LITTLE package.

You have your speedy ARM Cortex A72 nuclei clocked at up to 2.53 GHz, and a quartet of frugal 1.8 GHz A53s. The accompanying GPU is a spanking new Mali T880 which promises twice the graphics performance of the old T624, while the CPU reportedly provides 40 percent more muscle than the Kirin 930, and 60 percent less power consumption.

We should of course wait for thermal readings of the looming 6-inch Mate 8 to see if the claims check out in real-life conditions, whereas preliminary AnTuTu and Geekbench results suggest the massive speed bumps could indeed be legit.

In the former, a mysterious pre-release prototype device with the Kirin 950 inside scores over 82,000 points, well ahead of the Exynos 7420 and narrowly behind an unverified Snapdragon 820 test. Meanwhile, the latter yields a mind-blowing 6,200+ multi-core score, or more than 1,200 points north of 7420’s best result. Don’t forget about the Exynos 8890, though.

Sources: Android Central, Slashgear, Primate Labs

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Qualcomm Refutes Claims Of Snapdragon 820 Overheating Issues

Rumors claimed that Qualcomm is experiencing overheating issues with its Snapdragon 820 processor. However, the company has refuted these claims, saying the rumors are false.

In a post via the company's Weibo page, Qualcomm rebuked the claims of its Snapdragon 820 processor suffering from overheating issues. Rumors of the Snapdragon 820 overheating follow the firestorm of criticism Qualcomm received over the overheating issues plaguing the Snapdragon 810.

"The rumors circulating in the media regarding Snapdragon 820 performance are false. The Snapdragon 820 improves on all IP blocks and is fabricated in the second generation of the 14nm process technology. It is meeting all of our specifications, but more importantly it is satisfying the thermal and performance specifications from our OEMs," says Qualcomm.

A recent report stated that Samsung was planning to modify the processors control program in a bid to resolve the issue. Should that fail, then Samsung, the South Korean giant that allegedly wants to use the Snapdragon 820 in its 2016 flagship device, the Galaxy S7, may decide to use heat radiating pipes to help improve the heat dissipation.

As previously mentioned, this isn't the first time Qualcomm has come face-to-face with heat issues and allegations. The company's Snapdragon 810 processor has come under fire in recent times for causing too much heat, and this has been going on since the launch of the processor.

Several companies that had made plans to use the processor in premium smartphones had to seek ways of getting around the heating issue themselves, or opt for other processors altogether.

Microsoft's new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL devices are both using the Snapdragon 810 processor, but the company took additional measures. To combat the heating problem, Microsoft has added something it calls "liquid cooling." With this extra precaution, Microsoft expects the processor to perform more efficiently.

OnePlus is also having heat issues with the same processor, which is why the company added thermal gel and graphite to the processor in its OnePlus 2 smartphone.

If Qualcomm continues to suffer from heat problems with its latest processors, manufacturers might be forced to shift to another competitor in the market that has been lurking for years. That competitor is no other than Intel.

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Analyst who broke out Snapdragon 820 specs says Qualcomm's upcoming chip is 50% more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S6's

As year 2015 draws to a conclusion, we're already shifting our sights to what's in store for the first half of next year — mainly a new generation of Android smartphones, powered by Qualcomm's up and coming Snapdragon 820 SoC. The US chip maker's next flagship platform is commanding increased industry and user interest, for besides the expected two-fold increase in processing power, it's also meant to deliver in all those stretches where the Snapdragon 810 fell short of achieving the targeted goals. A disappointment after a successful streak of fast and efficient chipsets, this one throttled its speeds quickly and heavily to stop itself from overheating, and sacrificed battery life.

Then again, the controversy did serve to inject additional interest in Qualcomm's upcoming flagship product. And judging by the rumors swirling in the Rumor Grande river, the Snapdragon 820 may have all it takes to bring the company back on the right track. We've already heard of Samsung and TSMC as potential manufacturing partners, and the possibility of the former's Galaxy S7 flagship featuring the latest high-end Qualcomm chipset once again.

Now, Chinese analyst Pan Juitang (the first to uncover details about the chipset that eventually turned out correct) has made the SD 820 seem even more promising in his new report. He claims that Qualcomm's dragonborn chipset is 50% faster than Samsung's own Exynos 7420, the chipset that's been at the heart of this year's premium Galaxy devices. Allegedly, the 820 is up to 50% more powerful in single thread performance, which sounds very promising considering most Android apps do not prioritise multi-threading.

However, Samsung is preparing silicon of similar prowess for next year, the Exynos M1. Most likely, the chipset will end up in upcoming Galaxy devices for the Asian market, while their global variants will run on Qualcomm hardware.

We also get another confirmation of a 14nm FinFET process being used for fabrication, along with Cat 10 LTE support (up to 450Mbps downlink), a "complete 4K60 entertainment system" that would enable 4K video playback at 60 FPS, a programmable pre/post-processing camera DSP (which manufacturers will hopefully take advantage of), and a dedicated low-power sensor for "emerging always-on use-cases". It looks like Qualcomm is bringing some serious top shelf technology of its own along with the powerful chipset, so let's have our fingers crossed for this one!

Android smartphone makers are already taking test samples of the Snapdragon 820 out for a spin. According to Frank Meng, president of Qualcomm China, there are as many as 30 Snapdragon 820-powered smartphones in their planning and design phases. Meanwhile, we've rounded up some upcoming devices and what we know about them in this article. Check it out and let us know about your expectations!

via G For Games

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