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Samsung's latest mid-range chip is here, and it's a huge upgrade for Galaxy A phones
- Samsung has announced the Exynos 1580 processor for mid-range phones.
- The new chip brings a significantly more powerful CPU and even faster AMD graphics.
- We’re expecting the Exynos 1580 to appear inside the Galaxy A56 next year.
Samsung’s mid-tier Exynos processors have never really been class-leading propositions. Fortunately, it looks like the company’s latest chip could finally deliver a major performance upgrade for mid-range phones.
Samsung Semiconductor quietly listed the 4nm Exynos 1580 on its website, and this looks like a massive step forward for the company’s budget chips. Easily the biggest upgrade is the tri-cluster CPU, consisting of one Cortex-A720 core clocked at 2.9GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 2.6GHz, and four little Cortex-A520 cores at 1.95GHz. That’s a major upgrade over the Exynos 1480’s aging CPU, which consists of four Cortex-A78 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores.
Last year’s chip had an AMD GPU for the first time, and the Exynos 1580 offers an even faster AMD Xclipse 540 GPU. Samsung says this GPU is 37% faster than the previous generation and 20% faster while using the same amount of power. Samsung says these improvements are primarily due to the use of two so-called Work Group Processors instead of one, increased GL2 cache, and double the amount of FMA/texture unit processing.
Other Exynos 1580 specs and features
Samsung says the chip has an NPU with 6,000 MACS or 14.7 TOPS of computing power. The Exynos 1480 NPU also delivered 6,000 MACS of AI performance, suggesting that AI capabilities are unchanged or only marginally better.
There aren’t many other upgrades, save for Bluetooth 5.4 and improved noise reduction for photo/video capture. Otherwise, the two chips share features like a 5G modem topping out at 5.10Gbps downlink speeds, Wi-Fi 6E support, 200MP snapshot support, 4K/60fps video capture, and support for 144Hz refresh rates at FHD+ resolutions.
There’s no word on availability just yet, but the Exynos 1480 appeared in the Galaxy A55 5G. So it’s a safe bet that the Exynos 1580 will launch inside the Galaxy A56. This would be a significant performance upgrade for Samsung’s A series phones, so fingers crossed that phones with this chip come to the US.