Official is the Exynos W920 chip that Samsung will use on the Galaxy Watch 4 coming tomorrow: here are the big improvements over the previous generation
Samsung has taken a step forward ahead of the August 11 presentation, making official in advance one of the components that will feature during the event, namely the chip that will be used by the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic smartwatches about which we already know quite a bit, especially about the latter which has recently been at the center of some rumors.
Samsung's Exynos W920 chip has been made specifically for wearable devices such as smartwatches, and picks up the baton from the Exynos 9110 used so far that by now, with three years of honorable service, had done its time. Technology evolves at a very fast pace, and a three-year-old chip is considered almost obsolete. That's why the Exynos W920 should be a nice step up from the current range of wearable chips, and as a result should allow the Galaxy Watch 4 to take a nice generational leap from the smartwatches that will be retiring tomorrow.
Great performance compared to the past
Samsung's Exynos W920 is a chip that looks to the future, and this is also evident from the change of name compared to its predecessor: no longer "simply" Exynos followed by a numbering, a practice so far reserved for chips for smartphones and tablets, but a W (wearable, wearable?) to specify its ideal terrain.
The new chip for smartwatch is definitely cutting edge since the production process used by the company: it is made at 5 nanometers with extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). In other words? The most cutting-edge process Samsung could use to make its latest chip, which puts it as the most advanced in its industry.
According to official data, Exynos W920 is 20% faster than Exynos 9110 in terms of CPU thanks to two Cortex-A55 cores, and ten times more powerful in terms of GPU, hence graphics processing capabilities, thanks to Mali G-68.
With Exynos W920 larger batteries
In addition, the Exynos W920 chip features a configuration that Samsung says is ideal for enabling larger batteries than ever before, while offering an end-product design that results in elegant products. It integrates a power management system (PMIC), a 4G LTE modem, GPS for accurate tracking of outdoor activities, eMMC-type memory and LPDDR4-type RAM (not the fastest ever, but more than enough for use on smartwatches and derivatives).
Of great importance is the presence of the Cortex-M55 chip dedicated to operations that do not require large loads to the CPU but that would lead to excessive consumption, such as Always on Display that allows you to leave the display always on to quickly check the time, notifications, etc.. So instead of "inconveniencing" the Cortex-A55 (which would consume too much power), the management is entrusted to the Cortex-M55 with very low power consumption.
What the Galaxy Watch 4 will be capable of thanks to the Exynos W920 we'll find out tomorrow, along with the new software that Samsung has developed with Google for Watch OS 3.