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Samsung rolls out software to boost its octa-core processors

Teaser
The change will allow for all eight (or any combination of the four large and four small cores) to run simultaneously

Samsung's Exynos 5 is among the fastest smartphone CPUs on the market. It can be found in several of the South Korean company's top end smartphones and phablets including some versions of the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S4.

While the Exynos doesn't offer quite the same punch as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, it certainly is more flexible. The Exynos 5 is one of the first octa-core processors. It combines four ARM Cortex-A7 cores with four larger ARM Cortex-A15 cores. The intent is to use the smaller (more power efficient) cores for lighter work and switch to the larger cores for more demanding tasks.

But now, an upgrade in the form of Samsung's big.LITTLE technology will allow for HMP or Heterogenous Multi-Processing - all eight cores will be able to run at the same time or activate in whatever combination is most appropriate for the load the device is under. This should result in higher processing power for the chip and possibly better efficiency as well.

The update is expected to be released sometime in Q4 of this year. Though Samsung has not yet announced which versions of the Exynos 5 chips (if any) will benefit from the upgrade beyond the latest Exynos 5420.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2013 09 > Samsung rolls out software to boost its octa-core processors
Craig Munro, 2013-09-11 (Update: 2021-05-18)