Samsung is prepping a new processor core architecture for the Galaxy S7
Yes, we know, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE only just came out, but this is the way the mobile industry works, it's the same for Samsung, Apple, LG, everyone. The simple fact of the matter is that developing and manufacturing smartphones takes a lot of time and advanced planning, which means that the Galaxy S7 was already being planned before the Galaxy S6 was even released.
And with the way the rumour mill is these days there's a vast network of sources and infiltrators embedded in the whole development, supply, and manufacturing network - meaning we find out pretty quickly when something is being worked on. By now this means pretty much as soon as (if not before) a new model comes out, rumours of its successor are already circulating.
The last we heard a mention of the Galaxy S7 was in relation to Samsung developing its own CPU core for use inside its next flagship. According to that information, plans are afoot at the company’s Korean HQ to develop its very own custom processor core, meaning no more stock ARM Cortex CPU cores.
But we'll come back to that in a bit.
The most recent bit of info from the rumour mill came from Digitimes and Korean news source Newsis, the latter of which claimed to have heard from its insider sources that Samsung has plans to launch the Galaxy S7 during the second half of 2015, rather than waiting until early 2016 as many expected.
But according to a subsequent statement from Samsung itself, that's all a load of complete gumpf, hokum, twaddle, or whatever you like to call it.
A Samsung marketing spokesperson explained to MobileBurn:
"The company remains committed to launching products in pre-determined launch windows, which includes the S series."
Or in other words, it's sticking to a 12 monthly cycle with an early year launch, probably at MWC like last time, so look out for MWC 2016 in late February/early March.
Still, as we said at the start of the article, you can rest assured there is definitely a Galaxy S7 in the works, it just won't come until 2016.
What about that processor architecture rumour?
Apple has been doing something similar for a while developing its own Cyclone processor cores. Ditto Qualcomm with its Krait and upcoming KRYO setup. The benefits of such an approach are myriad; firms have more control over APIs, performance, functionality and efficiency.
A move such as this was always on the cards. Samsung has been investing heavily in its chip-making arm, so it stands to reason the company would want to begin developing its own, bespoke custom processor core just like its now arch-rival Qualcomm.
“Samsung is almost ready to finally release its own processing core next year,” reports Phone Arena, “perhaps in time for the Galaxy S7.
Samsung's System LSI Division has been working on a proprietary 64-bit core for four years and will no longer be using the default ARM Cortex designs, according to a reports from Korea.
“The current Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6 is plenty powerful, but still, in its single-core performance, it is no match for the proprietary Apple A8 chipset, despite the latter being clocked at much slower speeds,” the report added.
Qualcomm is set to debut its new KRYO core later on this year. At the time of writing there is no solid information about the roadmap for Samsung’s solution, save for the nod to its inclusion inside 2016’s Galaxy S7.
According to a report from April 27, more details have emerged regarding Samsung's custom "Mongoose" cores. The word comes via KitGuru, which has identified some interesting titbits in ARM' latest developer toolset for ARM core architecture, allegedly as well as containing support for ARM A17 and A72 cores, it also supports a "Samsung Exynos M1" core, aka "Mongoose". Not a great deal is known about the core architecture other than allegations that it is a Heterogeneous Sytem Architecture.
Source: www.knowyourmobile.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment