The Samsung Galaxy S30 will use a new more efficient Exynos chip, and if we're lucky, we may see it appear in this year's Samsung Galaxy Note 20 too.
ZDNet reports that Samsung is preparing to start production of a new chip with long-term silicon partner TSMC in August. This new chip is believed to be called the Exynos 992, building on the Exynos 990 currently found in the Galaxy S20 series.
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Notably, it will be Samsung's first 5nm chipset, which packs more computing power into a smaller area than the 7nm chips currently used in smartphones, such as the Exynos 990 and the Snapdragon 865. This could not only lead to more powerful chips but also improve their efficiency, in turn helping extend battery life.
The report quotes an official from TSMC that "It remains only to decide" whether Samsung will use this new chip in the Note 20. However, the report also suggests this new chipset will use a Cortex-A78 CPU and Mali-G78 GPU, the recently announced IPs from chip designer Arm.
Getting these new designs into production in less than two months would be far too fast. But preparing them for February 2021, when the Galaxy S30 will likely launch, is a more reasonable timeframe. Therefore we suspect this chip will be used in the S30 rather than the Note 20, or it won't use the Cortex-A78 and Mali-G78 and will delay the expected August reveal date of the Note 20 while Samsung ramps up production.
Just don't expect the rumored 992 in an American Samsung handset though, as Samsung still uses Snapdragon chips in the US version of its phones. Exynos chips tend to pop up in Samsung handsets in the European and Asian markets.
We're expecting the Galaxy Note 20 to appear on stage at an online Galaxy Unpacked event, where it will be joined by Samsung's newest foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold 2. The Note 20 is also rumored to feature a 120Hz display, as well as cameras similar to those found on the Galaxy S20 series though with potential for upgraded sensors.
