Samsung's latest Exynos 1680 is set to enhance AI and graphics capabilities for mid-range smartphones.
The new chip introduces some modest CPU updates but emphasizes enhanced GPU performance and faster on-device AI capabilities.
Samsung has officially unveiled its new mid-range Exynos 1680 chipset, which promises significant improvements for the company's upcoming non-flagship smartphones. The chip offers notable enhancements, particularly in the areas of AI and graphics, and will debut with the recently announced Galaxy A57 early next month.
What’s new with the Exynos 1680?
The Exynos 1680 features an upgraded Samsung Xclipse 550 GPU, which is expected to provide substantially better graphics performance compared to the Xclipse 540 GPU in the Exynos 1580. Samsung claims that the new GPU includes two extra Render Blocks along with two Work Group Processors, leading to a reported 16% performance increase compared to last year's model.
To enhance AI performance, Samsung has incorporated a new 8K MAC NPU in the Exynos 1680, which is said to deliver up to 19.6 TOPS of performance, representing a 33% enhancement over its predecessor. This improvement is expected to enable faster on-device AI capabilities.
Other significant upgrades include support for LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, as well as Bluetooth 6.1 for enhanced connectivity.
What hasn’t changed much?
Similar to last year’s Exynos 1580, the new chip is produced using Samsung’s 4nm process and maintains the same octa-core CPU configuration. It features one high-performance Cortex A-720 core operating at 2.9GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores at 2.6GHz, and three Cortex-A520 efficiency cores running at 1.95GHz.
While the architecture remains largely unchanged, Samsung points out that one of the efficiency cores has been upgraded to a “mid-core” to achieve a better balance between performance and efficiency, which could result in slightly improved battery life during regular use.
Display support is still limited to FHD+ with a 144Hz refresh rate, and camera specifications remain the same, with the Exynos 1680 supporting up to 200MP sensors and 4K video recording at 60fps. Connectivity features such as Wi-Fi 6E, GNSS, and 5G NR are also retained.
How these upgrades perform in real-world scenarios remains to be evaluated as the Galaxy A57 undergoes testing.
Pranob is an experienced tech journalist with over eight years of experience in consumer technology reporting. His work has been...
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Samsung's latest Exynos 1680 is set to enhance AI and graphics capabilities for mid-range smartphones.
The Exynos 1680 is Samsung's newest mid-range chipset, offering improved graphics and quicker on-device AI performance in comparison to the previous Exynos 1580.