We have already heard that Samsung and Google were collaborating to produce a new smartwatch operating environment. And now we are hearing reports that Samsung has officially unveiled its brand new Exynos processor. The SoC which is dubbed the Exynos W920 is tailor-made by Samsung for wearable devices.
This new wearable device SoC is a successor to the Exynos 9110 revealed three years ago alongside the original Galaxy Watch. According to reports, the Exynos W920 will debut inside the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic is scheduled for launch today. The new SoC is slated to be more powerful and power-efficient than its predecessor, and Samsung has also promised much faster performance with the new SoC.
The new SoC is manufactured using Samsung Foundry’s latest 5nm process and the chip features two ARM Cortex-A55 CPU cores and the ARM Mali-G68 GPU. The South Korean tech giant also claims that its new wearable chipset is 20% faster than the Exynos 9110 in CPU tests as well as it offers a whopping 10x faster graphics performance. The Exynos W920’s GPU can handle displays with up to qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels).
According to official sources, the new Exynos processor is packed in the smallest package that is currently available in the wearable segment which is the Fan-Out Panel Level Packaging (FO-PLP). The total package of the SoC includes the Exynos W920, a power management chip, LPDDR4 RAM, and eMMC storage to efficiently use physical space inside a wearable device. This new technique allows smartwatches to use the saved space to pack larger batteries.
The Exynos W920 also features a dedicated low-power Cortex-M55 display processor which handles AoD (Always-on Display) tasks. This will reduce the overall power consumption of wearable devices running on the Exynos W920 chip. The chip is also integrated with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), a 4G LTE modem, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 5.0. the SoC will support the WearOS developed in collaboration with Google and Samsung.
Harry Cho, Vice President of System LSI Marketing at Samsung Electronics, said, “Wearables like smartwatches are no longer just a cool gadget to have. They’re now a growing part of our lifestyles to keep you fit, safe and alert. With the Exynos W920, future wearables will be able to run applications with visually appealing user interfaces and more responsive user experiences while keeping you connected on the go with fast LTE.“