Samsung Exynos 980 SoC launched with integrated 5G modem and 108-megapixel camera support

South Korean tech giant Samsung has announced Exynos 980, the company’s first processor with built-in 5G modem. This SoC based on an 8nm FinFET process combines a 5G modem and mobile application processor into one chip. This should help not only save space inside the housing of smartphones that use it, but could also speed up the adoption of 5G technology around the world.

“With the introduction of our 5G modem last year, Samsung has been driving in the 5G revolution and paved the way towards the next step in mobility,” said Ben Hur, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. “With the 5G-integrated Exynos 980, Samsung is pushing to make 5G more accessible to a wider range of users and continues to lead innovation in the mobile 5G market.”

In terms of its architecture, it has two high performing ARM Cortex-A77 cores and six efficient Cortex-A55 cores and ARM Mali-G76 MP5 GPU. The modem used here supports E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), which combines 2CC LTE and 5G connectivity, to maximize mobile downlink speed up to 3.55Gbps.

The Exynos 980 is Samsung’s first artificial intelligence (AI) mobile processor with an integrated 5G modem. The new mobile processor’s modem supports 5G to 2G networks, providing a fast gigabit downlink speed in 4G LTE and up to 2.55-gigabits per seconds (Gbps) in sub-6-gigahertz (GHz) 5G. In addition, the processor supports a new Wi-Fi 6 standard, IEEE 802.11ax, that provides faster speed and greater stability for seamless online gaming and smooth high-resolution video streaming over Wi-Fi networks.

The chipset also brings a neural processing unit (NPU) that features performances of up to 2.7 times compared to its predecessor and is built into the Exynos 980 to provide new levels of on-device intelligence. With the NPU readily available on-chip, AI tasks are processed right from the device rather than off-loaded to a server, thereby providing better data privacy and security. The NPU adds enhancements to applications such as secure user authentication, content filtering, mixed reality, intelligent camera, and more.

For cameras, this chipset also supports lenses with up to 108-megapixel resolution.