Samsung unveils 14nm Exynos 7870 SoC for mid-range handsets

Last year, Samsung’s Exynos 7420 showcased what the company’s leading 14nm FinFET chip manufacturing process could achieve in the high-end mobile space. This year, Samsung has announced a new 14nm processor destined for the mid-range smartphone market.

Known as the Exynos 7 Octa 7870, Samsung’s latest processor features eight low power Cortex-A53 CPU cores each with a maximum clock speed of 1.6GHz. The naming convention may be a little illogical, as the 7870 isn’t targeting the same peak performance as the 7420 found in last year’s Galaxy S6 smartphones. Instead, Samsung is looking to provide an energy efficient chip for the mid-range market. The company’s latest high-end processor is the recently announced Exynos 8 Octa 8890.

The main benefits of moving to 14nm manufacturing are improved performance and power efficiency, both attributes that are highly sought after in the mobile space. Samsung states that its 7870 consumes roughly 30 percent less power than other mobile’s SoCs based on 28nm High-k Metal Gate process technologies.

Of course, SoCs aren’t just about CPU cores these days. Samsung is also cramming the chip with support for high-end modem, display and camera components. The Exynos 7870 is equipped with a Category 6 LTE modem with 2 band carrier aggregation and speeds which theoretically peak at 300Mbps download. The chip supports 1080p 60fps video playback on displays up to a resolution of 1920×1200, and there is an image signal processor with support for 16 megapixel front and rear cameras or dual 8 megapixel cameras.

The Exynos 7870 will enter production within the next few months and could appear in mid-range smartphones in the second half of 2016.