Samsung samples world’s first ARM Cortex-A15 processor for tablets
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Samsung Electronics has announced the industry's first dual core processor samples based on the ARM Cortex-A15 core.
The 2GHz dual core Exynos 5250 are designed specifically for high end tablets and incorporate 32nm high k metal gate low power process technology. This, says Samsung, enables the device to meet the graphic intensive, power efficient requirements of next generation mobile products.
According to Samsung, the Exynos 5250 is capable of processing 14billion instructions per second at 2GHz, nearly doubling the performance over a current Cortex-A9 based dual core processor running at 1.5GHz. The design was architected to drive up to an industry leading 2560x1600 (WQXGA) display, which Samsung says enables crisper video images on mobile devices and readability equivalent to a real paper for e-readers.
"The ARM Cortex-A15 brings unparalleled performance to our Exynos processor family and the exploding mobile marketplace," said Dojun Rhee, vice president of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics.
"Designers need an application processor platform that delivers full high definition multimedia capabilities, fast processing speed and high performance graphics to meet end users' expectation for a connected life on the go. The advanced low power, high performance processor technology of the new Exynos 5250 continues to deliver an unprecedented level of performance for users to enjoy a completely new mobile experience."
Power efficiencies are dealt with by an embedded DisplayPort with panel self refresh technology (PSR) interface applied to the timing controller. PSR enables static images to be refreshed directly from the frame buffer memory, resolving the need for regular display refresh instructions to be made by the application processor when reading static web pages or e-books.
Samsung claims the device features a doubled memory bandwidth of 12.8GB/s compared to current dual core processors, allowing fast data processing features – a key requirement for a processor to support WQXGA resolution displays. Peripheral functions include an embedded image signal processor enabling 8 Megapixel resolution images at 30 frames per second; an hd 60 frame per second video hardware codec engine for high resolution 1080p video recording and playback; an HDMI 1.4 interface; embedded booting device interfaces such as SATA, UART, USB; and external ports such as USB3.0, eMMC4.5 and eSD3.0.
The Exynos 5250 is currently sampling to customers and is scheduled for mass-production in the Q2 2012.
