Industry insider Ice Universe shared some details about Samsung’s upcoming upper mid-range chipset, the Exynos 9710 SoC. This processing solution will likely succeed the Exynos 9610 chipset that the South Korean tech giant launched last year.
According to Ice Universe, the Exynos 9710 will feature four ARM Cortex A76 CPU cores running at a maximum clock speed of 2.1GHz, four Cortex A55 CPU cores clocked at up to 1.7GHz, and the Mali-G76 MP8 GPU with a frequency of 650MHz. In addition, the industry insider also noted that the chipset would be manufactured using the 8nm process node technology, the same process node used to fabricate Samsung’s current flagship chipset, the Exynos 9820.
While there is little information available about the other features offered by the Exynos 9710 chipset, the components of the processor already gives a glimpse about the possible improvements that the newer SoC has over the Exynos 9610 chipset.
ARM launched the Cortex A76 CPU in May 2018, and it replaces the Cortex A73 CPU, a processor that ARM unveiled almost three years ago, in the Exynos 9610. Interestingly, the high-performance cluster of the Exynos 9710 uses a newer CPU design compared to Samsung’s flagship Exynos 9820, which utilizes Cortex A75 processors for its two middle-performance CPU cores. In contrast to the Cortex A75 in the Exynos 9820, the Cortex A76 offers 35-percent better performance, 40-percent improved power efficiency, and four times improved performance in machine learning tasks.
On the other hand, the Cortex A55 CPU in the Exynos 9710 offers 15-percent better battery efficiency and prolonged sustained performance compared to the Cortex A53 cores found in the Exynos 9610. Moreover, the Mali-G76 GPU found in the upcoming chipset features 30-percent higher performance density and power efficiency, and 2.7-times improvement in processing machine learning tasks.
Furthermore, the 8nm process node technology that Samsung will use to manufacture the Exynos 9710 will help reduce the chipset’s power consumption, compared to the 10nm technology used to fabricate the older Exynos 9610.
Aside from performance and power efficiency improvements, the Exynos 9710 will likely feature other enhancements related to artificial intelligence tasks and image processing. For example, the Exynos 9610 is capable of recording 1080p video at a frame rate of up to 480fps.
The more powerful processors inside the Exynos 9710 chipset could allow for recording higher-resolution video at similar frame rates. Meanwhile, the next-generation SoC will likely support the same deep learning technologies that help improve the image processing of mid-range handsets. The Exynos 9710 SoC will also likely include improvements to networking capabilities like increased upload and download speeds on existing LTE networks.
This rumor suggests that Samsung’s upcoming upper mid-range chipset offering will help further blur the line between midrange and premium devices in terms of performance and power efficiency, although there will be features, like 5G connectivity, that will possibly be limited to premium devices within the next few generations.
This rumor shares the first set of details about the Exynos 9710, and it may take a few more months before Samsung unveils the SoC. Moreover, users may have to wait for a few more months after the South Korean tech giant announces the chipset before the first handsets with the Exynos 9710 will become available to consumers.