Samsung announces 5nm Exynos 1080 5G SoC with Cortex-A78 cores

Samsung has finally unveiled its first 5nm smartphone chip. Yesterday, the company announced the new Exynos 1080 5G SoC at an event in China. Let’s learn more about Samsung Exynos 1080 5G along with its key specifications, features, and availability.

Samsung Exynos 1080 5G Overview

Architecture

Exynos 1080 5G is based on a 5nm EUV FinFET process. It is an octa-core chipset with three-tier architecture (or tri-cluster design). It consists of four Cortex-A78 cores and Cortex A55 cores. Among the four Cortex-A78 cores, one is clocked higher at 2.8GHz and it will act as the Prime core. The rest of the Cortex-A78 cores are clocked slightly lower at 2.6GHz. Similarly, the four Cortex-A55 cores are clocked at 2.0GHz. For graphics duty, Samsung has included Mali-G78 MP10 GPU, which is based on Arm’s second-generation Valhall architecture. Smartphone manufacturers can opt to work with either LPDDR5 and LPDDR4x RAM.

AI

Here, Exynos 1080 5G comes with a powerful NPU and a DSP which allows it to compute up to 5.7 trillion operations in one second. Thus, it can support a wide range of AI applications.

5G

Like its predecessor, the Exynos 1080 5G also comes with an integrated modem for 5G connectivity. It supports both spectrums of 5G connectivity: sub-6GHz, and the faster mmWave. Samsung claims that Exynos 1080 5G can reach a downlink speed of up to 5.1Gbps on a mmWave 5G network. Similarly, it is also Wi-Fi 6 ready and comes with support for Bluetooth 5.2.

• Also Read: MediaTek announces Dimensity 700 SoC for affordable 5G smartphones.

Display

The new Exynos 1080 5G chipset can support smartphones with up to 144Hz of refresh rate on an FHD panel. Even in a QHD+ resolution, the chipset can support a refresh rate of 90Hz. Thanks to its advanced dynamic range technology, the chip can also handle HDR10+ contents. The technology widens the range of visible content by dynamically optimizing brightness settings for colors and contour enhancement.

Camera

In terms of cameras, it can support a 200MP camera in a single-camera setup. The chip can support six individual camera sensors as well. In a dual-camera setup, manufacturers can use a 32MP + 32MP setup. Once the AI detects objects and scenery in the frame, the ISP on the Exynos 1080 5G can optimize the setting for a better shot. This SoC also supports true 10-bit video recording.

Samsung Exynos 1080 5G Specifications: 

• Process: 5 nm EUV FinFETprocess
• Core Architecture: 1x 2.8GHz Cortex-A78 + 3x 2.6GHz Cortex-A78 cores + 4x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55 cores
• GPU: Mali-G78 MP10
• Memory Support: LPDDR4x / LPDDR5
• Storage Support: UFS 3.1
• Max Camera: up to 200MP single sensor / 32MP + 32MP dual-camera setup
• Video Support: up to 4K 60FPS (10-bit video recording)
• Display Support: FHD+ @144Hz / WQHD+ @90Hz
• Connectivity: 5G (mmWave and sub-6GHz), Wi-Fi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2. FM Radio

Samsung Exynos 1080 5G Availability

Samsung has announced that the Exynos 1080 5G will first be used in a Vivo smartphone (most likely the upcoming X60 series). We can expect smartphones with Exynos 1080 5G to be available in early 2021.

• Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.