Samsung has unveiled the Exynos 990, a high-end SoC targeted for the Galaxy S11 in early 2020

Samsung has launched its all-new Exynos 990 SoC, a high-end chip destined for the Galaxy S11. The new octa-core chip is produced on the same 7nm LPP (EUV) node as the Exynos 9825 found in the new Galaxy Note 10 line. Contrary to rumors suggesting Samsung was going to drop its custom cores, the Exynos 990 features two bespoke next-gen M5 cores based on ARM’s new Cortex A77 design. It also picks up two Cortex A76 cores as well as four Cortex A55 cores for everyday low power duties. The chip can also support refresh rates up to 120 Hz suggesting S11 users can look forward to up to a doubling of current display refresh rates on Samsung devices.

Overall, thanks to the four new performance cores, performance is expected to jump at least 20 percent over the Exynos 9820. The Exynos 990 is also the first SoC to debut ARM’s all-new Mali G77 iGPU in an MP11 arrangement. It features ARM’s Valhall microarchitecture that is claimed to simultaneously deliver a performance gain of 20 percent and an equivalent gain in efficiency. It is also one of the first chipsets to feature support for LPDDR5 memory that supports clock frequencies up to 2,740 Mhz. It also incorporates a new dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) for advanced AI applications including photography.

Interestingly, the Exynos 990 SoC doesn’t feature any form of integrated modem, which is why Samsung appears to have launched the new 5G Exynos Modem 5123 alongside it. This is also fabricated on the 7nm LPP (EUV) process. What it points to is that Samsung is planning on fitting 5G as standard across all its high-end smartphones next year. The new modem supports “virtually all networks, from 5G’s sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrums to 5G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA and 4G LTE…” On a 5G connection it will deliver theoretical download speeds up to 7.35 Gbps.

All-in-all, there is plenty to be excited about if you’re keenly awaiting the launch of the Galaxy S11 early next year.