Samsung has announced its latest Exynos mobile processor, the Exynos 2100 5G, which it calls its most advanced mobile processor yet. Although it made no announcements regarding which devices it will arrive in, it’s almost certain the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 will be powered by the chip. At least, the S21 phones released outside the U.S. probably will be, while those sold inside the U.S. may use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.
The Exynos 2100 5G is still a very important product for Samsung, not least because it’s the company’s first flagship chip built using a 5nm processor, which it says provides a 10% performance increase and a 20% decrease in power consumption, compared to a 7nm chip like the Exynos 990. The 2.9GHz Central Processing Unit (CPU) has eight cores in total, consisting of three Arm Cortex A78, four Arm Cortex A5, and a custom Arm Cortex X1. Combined with improvements made to the cache, scheduler, and voltage control, all this adds up to a 30% overall performance improvement.
Along with a fast Mali G78 MP14 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) a new feature called Amigo, which is short for Advanced Multi-IP Governor, optimizes the processes related to graphics, gaming, and 4K and 8K video, to lessen the impact they have on battery power consumption. The Exynos 2100 has a new triple-core Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which will help optimize photos taken with the camera. The ISP supports up to six different cameras and a 200-megapixel resolution and also has an HDR10+ decoder for 8K video integrated into it.
The Exynos 2100 is Samsung’s first processor with integrated 5G, which saves space and lowers power consumption compared to those with a separate 5G modem. It connects with Sub-6 and mmWave 5G signals, for use all over the world now and in the future as mmWave becomes more widely available. The chip will support displays up to 4K resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate, or 144Hz for QHD+ resolution screens.
During the launch presentation, Samsung referenced some of the complaints made against the Exynos 990 and says it has addressed concerns over power consumption and performance in the Exynos 2100. Samsung traditionally uses its Exynos processors inside S series, Note, and its folding phones sold in Asia and Europe, but has relied on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips for the same devices sold in the U.S. It’s not known whether this will continue with the Galaxy S21, but we will find out on January 14 when the range is officially revealed for the first time.
