Samsung Exynos 2200 mobile processor
Samsung introduced the Exynos 2200. Ultra-powerful 4nm mobile processor with Samsung Xclipse GPU based on AMD RDNA 2 architecture.
The SoC Exynos 2200 has finally been officially announced by Samsung. Initially, the introduction would take place on January 11, 2022. However, at the last minute, Samsung decided to remove all evidence surrounding the release from its websites and social media, causing a lot of confusion. Now, a week later, the chip has been announced. This is the first chipset Exynos with AMD GPU and support for ray tracing hardware technology and variable rate shading – for the ultimate gaming experience.
Ray tracing is a rendering technique that makes game images much more realistic. By simulating sunlight, beautiful sparkles and reflections can be created in-game.
Variable Rate Shading (VRS) is a technique in which the rate of shading varies for different parts of the image. This reduces the load on the GPU.
Techniques such as ray tracing and variable rate shading have never been applied to a mobile processor before. The first expert opinions should soon show whether this technology also finds its place on a small screen such as a smartphone.
The Sony PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X also have these acclaimed features – like many gaming PCs, for this reason Samsung is confident that the Exynos 2200 can deliver console-like gaming performance.
Exynos 2200 brings console-quality graphics to your smartphone
L’Exynos 2200 is baked using the 4nm process. It’s the counterpart to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, MediaTek Dimensity 9000 and Apple’s A15 Bionic. L’Exynos 2200 is a newly designed mobile processor with Samsung Xclipse GPU based on AMD RDNA 2 architecture.
The Xclipse GPU is a hybrid graphics processor placed between the console and the mobile graphics processor. The Xclipse GPU also incorporates Multi-IP Governor Technology (AMIGO), which improves overall performance and efficiency.
The name “Xclipse” is a combination of “X” of ” Exynos » and the word « eclipse ». Like a solar eclipse, the Xclipse GPU is set to end the old era of mobile gaming and usher in an exciting new dimension.
It is the first Exynos chip baked on the advanced 4 nanometer EUV process, combined with advanced GPU and NPU technology. In the press release, Samsung reports, “With the most advanced Arm-based processor cores on the market and an upgraded Neural Processing Unit (NPU), the Exynos 2200 will enable the ultimate gaming experience on mobile phones, as well as improving overall experience in social media and photography apps.
The Exynos 2200 octa-core processor is designed in a tri-cluster structure consisting of a powerful single-core Arm Cortex-X2, three Cortex-A710 cores and four power-efficient Cortex-A510 cores. This is comparable to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Dimensity 9000. However, Samsung has yet to share information on clock speeds. We will come back to this later in this publication.
Samsung’s new SoC also offers enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, thanks to the upgraded NPU. The performance of the NPU has doubled compared to its predecessor, allowing more parallel calculations. The NPU now offers greater precision with support for FP16 (16-bit floating point), in addition to power-saving INT8 (8-bit integer) and INT16.
The Exynos 2200 also incorporates a high-speed 3GPP version 16 5G modem that supports sub-6 GHz and mmWave (millimeter wave) spectrum bands. With E-UTRAN New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), which uses both 4G LTE and 5G NR signals, the modem can increase the speed up to 10 Gbps.
Finally, the new Samsung Exynos chip comes with Integrated Secure Element (iSE), to store private cryptographic keys and play a RoT (Root of Trust) role. Additionally, the inline encryption hardware for UFS and DRAM has been hardened so that user data encryption is only securely shared within the secure domain.
Support 200MP camera and 8K video at 60fps
The Image Signal Processor (ISP) architecture is designed to support the latest image sensors for ultra-high resolution up to 200 megapixels. Yesterday it was announced that the Motorola Frontier would probably be the first smartphone with a 200MP camera – the Samsung ISOCell HP1 image sensor announced in 2021 will be used for this.
At 30 frames per second (fps), the ISP supports up to 108 MP in single camera mode and 64 + 36 MP in dual camera mode. Up to seven image sensors can be connected, four of which can be monitored simultaneously. For video recording, the ISP supports up to 4K HDR (or 8K) resolution.
Updated ISP and NPU enable advanced AI camera technologies for more realistic results. When taking a photo, the AI camera based on machine learning recognizes multiple objects, the environment and faces. Then settings such as color, white balance, exposure, dynamic range, etc. are automatically adjusted to produce better quality.
With support for 8K video, the Exynos 2200’s advanced multi-format codec (MFC) ensures high quality video images. It decodes videos up to 4K at 240 fps or 8K at 60 fps and encodes up to 4K at 120 fps or 8K at 30 fps. Additionally, HDR10+ is supported for wider dynamic range.
Finally, the new Exynos supports a very high refresh rate of 144Hz. At the moment, Samsung phones offer maximum support of 120Hz. This will also apply to the Galaxy S22 series expected next month. Despite this, there are already 144Hz phones available from other brands, including the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra and the Xiaomi Mi 10T.
The Exynos 2200 is currently in mass production. This SoC could be the first to be applied to the Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus and Galaxy S22 Ultra next month.
Samsung Galaxy S22 series
Rumors have been circulating for many months that Samsung Korea has (had) serious problems with the development of the Exynos 2200. It would even be such a shame if Samsung decided to use the Snapdragon processor exclusively for the S22 models this time.
Earlier this week, multiple sources again reported that the Galaxy S22 would not feature theExynos 2200. This rumor was then immediately contradicted by another leaker, who reports that Samsung will still use it at least in the UK. chip.
Normally, Samsung chooses to pack its high-end S-series models with two different chips, depending on the region. In Europe we get the variant Exynos, in other parts of the world – including America – the Qualcomm counterpart Snapdragon is used. The latter generally offers better performance.
Based on previous years, the Samsung Galaxy S22 / S22+ / S22 Ultra in the Netherlands will therefore be equipped with theExynos 2200. Due to the mixed messages, we are in any case very curious about the performance of this new mobile processor.
Does Samsung indeed have a next-gen chip with the new Exynos 2200, with which it can compete with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or will the Exynos lose again? Only time will tell.
All in all, there are still a lot of doubts about the new Exynos 2200. It’s also worth noting that Samsung didn’t reveal any clock speeds – some say that’s exactly where it hangs. The GPU also looks less promising than Samsung suggests.
Famous leaker Ice Universe reports on Twitter that GFXBench Aztec Ruins gets the following results:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 – 143 fps
- Snapdragon 888 – 116 fps
- Exynos 2200 – 109 fps
- Exynos 2200: 71 fps
From these test results, you can conclude that the new SoC will offer better performance than its predecessor, but less performance than its Qualcomm Snapdragon counterpart. Even last year’s Snapdragon 888 performed better, which is remarkable.
The vast majority of Samsung users also seem to prefer Qualcomm’s chip. Ice Universe held a poll last week via Twitter asking “European Samsung users, do you want the Exynos or the Snapdragon for the Galaxy S22?” » Of more than 21,000 respondents, 18.7% prefer the Exynos 2200, 81.3% prefer the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.