Samsung's new 16 Gb LPDDR5 RAM headed for Galaxy S21 goes into mass production

Samsung has taken the wraps off its new 16-gigabit LPDDR5 mobile RAM, which we can expect to see in its next-generation flagship, the Galaxy S21. The new modules are starting to roll off the company’s foundry production lines and feature some advances not previously seen. Chiefly, Samsung has been able to apply the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) it has used in CPU fabrication to its 10nm RAM fabrication process allowing it overcome “a major developmental hurdle in DRAM scaling at advanced nodes.”

The new EUVL technique means that Samsung’s new LPDDR5 RAM package is 30 percent thinner than its predecessor. In contemporary smartphones where every micron is at a premium, this alone is a substantial gain. Compared to its previous 12-gigabit RAM chips which took twelve to create a 16 GB RAM package, the new 16-gigabit chips can create a 16 GB RAM package with just eight chips.

Similarly, where the 12-gigabit chips delivered throughput of 5,500 Mb/s, Samsung’s new 16-gigabit chips deliver 6,400 Mb/s. According to Samsung, this means when in a 16 GB package, its new RAM has the capability of transferring ten 5 GB-sized Full HD movies (50 GB of data) in just one second. Consider our appetites whetted for the Samsung Galaxy S21 when it launches in Q1, 2021 with these new RAM modules on board -- that said, these new RAM modules are also available to Samsung’s competitors too.