Samsung Exynos 880 revealed: The chip to bring 5G to the masses?

Samsung already has two in-house 5G chipsets in the Exynos 980 and Exynos 990, but it’s adding a third to its stable with the newly announced Exynos 880.

The new chipset shares an awful lot in common with the Exynos 980, from the CPU layout (2x Cortex-A77 and 6x Cortex-A55) and Mali-G76 MP5 GPU to the 8nm design and integrated NPU for machine learning.

So what actually makes the Exynos 880 stand out from the previous chipset, then? For one, the Cortex-A77 cores have a lower clock speed (2Ghz vs 2.2Ghz), which should give a slight CPU performance advantage to the older SoC on paper.

Is Exynos 880 a downgraded Exynos 980?

The new processor also tops out at 2,520 x 1,080 in terms of display support, while the Exynos 980 supports 3,360 x 1,440 screens. It also seems like the new chip only offers Wi-Fi 5 capabilities versus Wi-Fi 6 on the older SoC.

The Exynos 880 offers a maximum of 64MP single camera support (and 20MP+20MP dual), while the Exynos 980 can handle 108MP camera sensors as seen on the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Xiaomi Mi Note 10. So those looking for the highest resolution cameras probably won’t be buying an Exynos 880-toting device.

Furthermore, Samsung’s new processor tops out at 4K/30fps video recording versus 4K/120fps on the older chipset. Clearly this is being positioned a step below the Exynos 980.

The first phone with the Exynos 880 is the ~$280 vivo Y70s 5G, which launched in China yesterday. So you can expect devices powered by this SoC in the West any time now.

News of a more affordable 5G chipset also comes as more brands launch cheaper 5G phones. You can check out more cheap 5G phone coverage in the articles below.

• Redmi could offer a cheaper 5G phone by the end of the month
• Redmi 10X details leak, including 5G support
• Smartphone exec says 5G phones will be available for well under $250 by Q4
• HONOR X10 5G revealed: Everything but the kitchen sink for under $300