Samsung Unveils New Exynos Mobile Processor and 5G Modem

Samsung has unveiled a new premium mobile processor and 5G modem which will likely be used for its next generation Galaxy smartphones.

Both the Exynos 990 premium mobile processor and ultra-fast next-generation 5G Exynos Modem 5123 harness the most advanced 7-nanometer (nm) process technology using extreme ultra-violet (EUV) to provide unprecedented performance and accelerated product development options for mobile manufacturers.

“Milestones in technological advancements are imminent all around us. Mobile 5G technology is opening new avenues for communication and connection, while AI is poised to become an everyday tool for people worldwide,” noted Inyup Kang, president of System LSI Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 are perfectly adapted for high-volume 5G and AI applications, and are designed to help the world’s most ambitious enterprises, large and small, achieve their goals of bringing new capabilities to their markets .”




The Exynos 990 includes an embedded Arm Mali-G77 GPU based on the new Valhall architecture which improves graphic performance or power efficiency by up to 20 percent. This is in addition to an overall 20% performance boost from a flexible tri-cluster CPU structure that consists of two powerful custom cores, two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores.

The processor also features a dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) and an improved digital signal processor (DSP) that can perform over ten-trillion operations (TOPs) per second. The NPU enables localized AI, allowing data to be processed on-device. It can also help enhance features such as facial recognition and scene detection.

A 120Hz refresh-rate display driver reduces screen tearing and enables smoother animations even on devices with multiple displays, such as foldable phones. Also on board is an advanced image signal processor (ISP) that supports up to six individual image sensors with concurrent processing of three; this enables pro-grade photography, with resolution up to 108-megapixels.


Samsung's 5G Exynos Modem 5123 supports virtually all networks, from 5G’s sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums to 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA and 4G LTE. In 5G, with up to 8-carrier aggregation (8CA), the modem delivers a maximum downlink speed of up to 5.1-gigabits per second (Gbps) in sub-6-gigahertz (GHz) and 7.35Gbps in mmWave, or up to 3.0Gbps in 4G networks by supporting higher-order 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).

The company says its Exynos 990 processor complements these modem speeds with a very wide memory bandwidth that supports LPDDR5 data rates of up to 5,500 megabits per second (Mb/s).

The Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 are expected to begin mass production by the end of this year.

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