Galaxy S22 Brain 'Exynos' "Wide Versatility"... Samsung Dismisses Concerns

Introduced in 3 Parts on Newsroom... 7 Core IPs and More

Samsung Electronics Exynos mobile AP (Application Processor) applied to Galaxy S22. (Photo by Samsung Electronics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Samsung Electronics is making headlines as three development leaders step forward to actively promote the competitiveness of its AP (Application Processor) brand 'Exynos,' amid controversies over heat generation and performance degradation. Given the broad versatility of SoCs (System on Chips), the company has clearly expressed to the market that it will never give up on this business. This explanation has attracted attention as concerns persist in the market that due to the perceived low quality of Exynos, Samsung phones' latest Galaxy models might incorporate Qualcomm products instead of Samsung semiconductors.

According to Samsung Electronics on the 26th, leaders of the System LSI Business Division who developed Exynos will post a series of three articles on the company's newsroom starting from the previous day, explaining the SoC. Following the first article on GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and ISP (Image Signal Processor) posted the day before, the second article will cover CPU (Central Processing Unit) and NPU (Neural Processing Unit), and the third will discuss modem, connectivity, and security in sequence. The goal is to enhance public understanding of Exynos.

Kim Mingu, Vice President and Head of SoC Development at Samsung Electronics' LSI Business Division and the chief designer of Exynos, took the lead by explaining the future outlook of the SoC industry. The key point was that thanks to the SoC, which is smaller than a fingernail, mobile phones have expanded beyond calling functions to video, gaming, financial services, and more. He described it as "the flower of system semiconductors." Kim said, "SoC is a challenging field, but any engineer would want to take on this promising area," adding, "Going forward, the role of SoCs will be even more vast in future industries such as the metaverse, autonomous driving, and 6G (6th generation mobile communication)."

He drew attention by emphasizing plans to accelerate the development of Samsung's proprietary IPs such as GPU, NPU, ISP, modem, and RF (Radio Frequency transceiver semiconductors). He also expressed the intention to evolve from design to becoming a platform solution provider. Kim stated, "We will leverage SoC competitiveness to have Exynos recognized as the world's most trusted mobile AP brand," and emphasized, "Through this planning series, I hope the role and importance of SoCs, as well as the unique strengths and development directions of Exynos, will be shared with more people."

Kim Min-gu, Head of Exynos Design at Samsung Electronics, Vice President and Head of SoC Development at Samsung Electronics LSI Business Division. (Image source=Samsung Electronics Newsroom)

Park Seongbeom, Executive Director of the SoC Design Team 2 at Samsung Electronics' System LSI Business Division and the lead developer of the GPU, explained the role of the Exynos GPU. The GPU is an essential IP for expressing the shape, position, color, and texture of objects during graphic processing. The GPU 'Xclipse 920' embedded in the Exynos 2200 is also the first product jointly developed by Samsung Electronics and AMD. It supports experiencing console-level graphics on mobile devices.

Park said, "Samsung Electronics redesigns AMD's GPUs, originally made for PC or console-level performance, to suit mobile environments. Based on accumulated low-power SoC design know-how, we achieved 'miniaturization' and 'power reduction.' Typically, mobile technology tends to lag about five years behind console technology, but through collaboration with AMD, we were able to immediately embed the latest console technologies into the Exynos 2200, which was applied to the Galaxy S22," he explained.

Choi Jongsung, PL of Samsung Electronics' Multimedia Development Team and a veteran in video processing, explained the ISP. The ISP corrects raw data transmitted from the image sensor to produce photos or videos in forms preferred by consumers. Initially, ISPs were separate chips in early smartphones, but due to market demand, embedded ISPs have gradually become more widely used.

Choi said, "The high-performance ISP embedded in the Exynos 2200 can process up to 200 million pixels," adding, "It includes NPU and AI functions that recognize various objects, environments, and people in the background to optimally adjust color and exposure, supporting photography at a professional level."

Going forward, the focus will be on 'low power consumption' and 'video quality improvement.' Choi explained, "The amount of data processed in real-time by the ISP from the image sensor is increasing exponentially, and reading and writing to memory consumes too much power. Exynos reduces power consumption by storing data in memory only once." He added, "With the video era opening sooner than expected, we are focusing on improving video quality, especially enhancing video quality in dark, low-light environments to increase competitiveness."

Qualcomm mobile chip Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 installed in Samsung Electronics' foldable phones Galaxy Z Fold4 and Flip4. (Photo by Qualcomm)

The reason Samsung's top developers have stepped forward is due to the unusual market situation. Earlier this year, the Galaxy S22 series equipped with Exynos was embroiled in quality issues such as heat generation and performance degradation. There have been forecasts that the flagship smartphone 'Galaxy S23 (tentative name),' to be released early next year by Samsung Electronics' MX (Mobile Experience) division, will exclusively use Qualcomm APs made by Taiwan's TSMC. The market position of Exynos is weakening, and some even speculate about discontinuing the business.

For example, Guo Mingqi, an IT expert and researcher at TF International Securities, claimed on his social media last month that "Qualcomm chips accounted for 70% of the Galaxy S22, and Qualcomm is likely to be the sole supplier for the Galaxy S23." This implies that Samsung semiconductors might not be included in Samsung phones.

Samsung Electronics has responded that these market concerns are "groundless." At the Q2 earnings conference call on the 28th of last month, Pi Jaegul, Vice President of Samsung Electronics' System LSI division, said, "We are currently reorganizing the SoC business model and establishing strategies to strengthen competitiveness in the mid-to-long term by utilizing resources most efficiently. We are focusing on enhancing the competitiveness of next-generation mobile Exynos and strengthening cooperation with leading companies for each IP to maximize the market share of key customers," emphasizing the company's commitment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.