Samsung and AMD seem to have come up with something good for the next Exynos mobile system-on-chip if we are to believe the leaked benchmarks. There are also rumors that Samsung is testing a few different Exynos configurations, and we could see the fruits of that labor on the Galaxy S22.
AMD is known in the PC market as a rival to CPU giant Intel and graphics monster Nvidia. The company has seen a major turnaround in the past five years and is the driving force behind what powers both the Xbox Series X and the PS5.
And now AMD is teaming up with Samsung to create a mobile GPU powerhouse. We’ve been seeing a few different reports about Samsung and AMD’s plans lately, so we’re going to break it all down for you.
Exynos benchmarks reportedly leaked
Reliable leaker Ice Universe has reported alleged Wild Life results on Twitter. The graphical benchmark results showed a score of 8,134 points with an average FPS of 50.3. As for an Android phone, this is extremely impressive.
Remember that this benchmark is not just from a leak, but also a single score. In fact, Ice Universe states that other results varied, so that number isn’t set in stone.
Exclusive: Samsung tests the AMD GPU in the new Exynos and the Wild Life test for the 3D Mark achieved 8134 points. It’s worth noting that the CPU in this test is an A77 architecture, just for reference. Every test has different results, we have to wait for more results. pic.twitter.com/Rej9vqyP6s Jun 29, 2021
Another thing Ice Universe notes is that the chip that produced these results was based on a Cortex-A77 architecture. This could mean that Samsung only tested GPU performance without worrying about the CPU performance. The chip used in this leaked benchmark may never see the light of day.
What does this number mean? As a reference, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the current king of smartphone performance, scored 6,618 points in our Wild Life test. This phone averages 39 frames per second. And the most powerful Android phone to date, the OnePlus 9 Pro, scored 5,756 points at an average of 34.47 fps.
As you can see, this Exynos GPU can upset the current balance. The iPhone 13 with its A15 Bionic chip will be out soon before we see a chip with this new AMD GPU. Still, the difference between the results we have for the A14 and what’s written here in this leak is insane.
Samsung is testing several next-generation Exynos variants
On Twitter, Tron mentioned four Exynos flavors during testing. Two of them use the Cortex X1 core, one uses the new Cortex X2 and the last one uses the proven Cortext A78 core. The X2 was recently announced by ARM, which runs on the Armv9 architecture. It promises a modest performance boost over the Cortex X1.
(1/4) About the following Exynos specifications 4 samples in the test bed A combination of Big-Core Cortex X1 and a combination of Cortex X2 is tested. One of the two would be for the flagship model. This is not the latest trial version. OP https://t.co/SSfOz9jC1J June 30, 2021
There’s a lot of talk about chips in these reports, but the gist of it is that one of Samsung’s Exynos variants supposedly uses a Cortex X2 for heavy lifting (like gaming) and has three more large cores and four small ones, similar to ARM’s other systems. -on chips.
There is speculation that one of these Exynos test samples could end up as a new mid-range chip, possibly replacing the Exynos 1080.
Additionally, AMD is stepping in to provide the GPU chops for the next Exynos. Two of the prototypes have an mRDNA GPU with four processors. Given the success of AMD’s rDNA architecture in desktop and console use, the mobile version is promising. One of the other variants has a GPU with two processing units and the last test sample has one processing unit.
AMD’s involvement could bring the next Exynos chip up to Apple’s performance level, leaving Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips behind for graphics performance. However, keep in mind that this speculation is based on supposedly leaked benchmarks. How the chip will perform in real-life remains to be seen, if at all.
Exynos Outlook
While this is all still speculation and insider knowledge, it’s still exciting for future phone developments. Historically, Exynos chips have lagged behind Snapdragon offerings and never approached what Apple’s silicon can do.
It’s possible that whatever configuration Samsung chooses – what we think it will call the Exynos 2200 – will power at least some of the Galaxy S22 models. That could mean Samsung’s next Galaxy S phones will be mobile gaming powerhouses. It would be nice to see these new Exynos in the US as we need a break from Qualcomm’s stranglehold on this market.
