Samsung Announces World's First Octa 8-Core Mobile Processor

Processor will power smartphones and tablets.

ZoomSamsung has announced the world's first eight-core processor for smartphones and tablets, the Exynos5 Octa.

Announced during its CES keynote, Samsung CEO Stephen Woo unveiled the forthcoming 8-core micro processor, which houses two sets of four-core processors.

The South Korean technology giant said it's been created to run intense apps, while also conserving energy when users run basic tasks. Upon his demo, Woo said one of the key functions of the chip is to allow users to carry out several activities at once while also ensuring that the battery isn't drained too quickly.

He had showcased a search for dining options on a Samsung tablet during the demo, where the device loaded several sites including Urbanspoon and Google Maps, which was done without any disruption in the browser. Woo promised no dropped frames or stutters in HD movie playback will occur.

Woo stressed that the chip delivers a new level of performance on a mobile device and, at the same time, offers up to 70 percent savings on batteries thanks to the new silicon. The Exynos5 Octa also utilizes ARM's Big.Little technology, which combines the ARM Cortex-A7 chip with a more powerful Cortex A-15 multicore chip.

"We believe the right component DNA drives the discovery of what's possible," said Woo. "Components are building blocks—the foundations on which devices are built. We at Samsung's component solutions are creating new, game-changing components across all aspects of devices."

"The new Exynos 5 Octa introduces a whole new concept in processing architecture…designed for high-end smartphones and tablets. When you want multiple applications to perform at their best, you want the best application processor currently available—the Exynos 5 Octa."

Samsung, which also saw former U.S. President Bill Clinton make an appearance during its keynote, is rumored to be integrating the Exynos5 Octa eight-core chip into the Galaxy S4.

Apple Drops Samsung Chips From Devices

   The relationship breakdown between Apple and Samsung is reportedly even spreading to the sourcing of components that Apple uses in its devices.

Apple and Samsung have of course been fighting each other for months over patent-infringement claims. But during the courtroom tussle, Apple continued to build its iPhones and iPads using Samsung ARM-based chips.
Apple Samsung Divorce
However that is apparently changing, and occurs on the heels of some long-time rumours that the move was in the works, according to a report from Forbes.

"There's a story coming out of Taiwan that Apple has already started to make the switch, commissioning TSMC to make the next round of the A6 chip and then on into production of the A7," Forbes reported 2 January. "Apple has already requested Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company [TSMC] to produce its next-generation A6X processors, reports the Taiwanese financial newspaper Commercial Times."

The ongoing legal fight between Apple and Samsung has been knuckle-busting for both. In August 2012, Apple won a $1.05 billion (£646m) verdict against Samsung from a California court over allegations that Samsung infringed on Apple patents in the designs of mobile devices.

With the legal battles in the background in recent months, Apple has reportedly been looking to reduce its dependency on Samsung for chips, turning to TSMC for production of its 20-nanometre chips.

Apple uses Samsung chips only in its iPhones and iPads, not in its desktop and laptop products.
Chip Specialists
In the meantime, chips haven't been the only place where Apple has been moving to make some pointed statements to Samsung.

In October 2012, Apple hired chip engineer Jim Mergard away from Samsung, where he worked after some 16 years with chip rival Advanced Micro Devices. The move illustrates the demand for chip engineers - not only in PCs and servers, but also in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets - and sheds more light on the growing competition between x86-based chip makers like Intel and AMD and ARM Holdings and ARM's list of partners, such as Samsung, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

While Intel and AMD chips dominate the PC and server markets, ARM-designed chips are found in the bulk of smartphones and tablets. And as both Intel and AMD push to gain inroads into the mobile market, ARM and some of its partners are looking to move their low-power chips into PCs and servers, widening the competitive field.

Mergard was a key PC chip engineer during his time at AMD and helped lead the development of the company's Brazos accelerated processing unit (APU) aimed at entry-level PCs and notebooks. He came to Samsung as part of a wave of AMD engineers and officials leaving the company.

He also came at a time when Samsung reportedly began gearing up to challenge Intel and AMD in the server chip business. Samsung over the past couple of years has been aggressive in pursuing chip engineers from rival companies.
Courtroom Tussles
Also in October, Samsung won a legal round with Apple when a three-judge federal appeals court panel overturned a preliminary injunction awarded to Apple in August that blocked Samsung's sales of its Galaxy Nexus smartphones in the United States. The injunction was awarded while both sides are tussling over patent-infringement claims involving the smartphones.

The decision means that Samsung will be able to continue to sell Galaxy Nexus phones while the legal fight continues. In their decision to toss the injunction, the judges wrote that the judge in the original case in August, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh, abused her discretion in issuing the injunction against Apple in the first place.

To have correctly earned such an injunction, the appeals court wrote, Apple would have had to have proven that consumers purchased Galaxy Nexus handsets because they specifically included the features that Apple claimed are infringing on its patents.

"In this light, the causal link between the alleged infringement and consumer demand for the Galaxy Nexus is too tenuous to support a finding of irreparable harm," the appeals court wrote.