Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series could get a massive chipset upgrade

Traditionally, Samsung sells a brand new chipset, matching the Galaxy S series flagships with the same year’s Galaxy Note. Yet Galaxy Note 20 appears to be likely to get a big update this year.

ZDNet Korea reports that Samsung has completed mass production preparations for the Exynos 992 5 nm Exynos processor. In addition, the sources of the outlet state that Samsung still decides to add it to the Galaxy Note 20 series.

A 5 nm architecture alone will improve the flexibility and performance of the Galaxy S20 series compared to the 7 nm Exynos 990. But ZDNet claims that this is not the only update to the current Exynos chip.

It is alleged that the Exynos 992 uses Arm’s Cortex-A78 CPU and Mali-G78 GPU. The 5 nm A78 consumes 50 percent less power and has a continuous up to 20 percent increase in output over a 7 nm CPU Cortex-A77 (as shown in the Snapdragon 865). In the meantime, Arm reports that the current 5 nm GPU has a 25% boost compared to the 7 nm Mali-G77 in Exynos 990.

In other words, the supposed move to a smaller production process and modern CPU and GPU technologies would lead to a significant improvement in performance and energy usage over the S20 range.

There are some reasons for skepticism about this latest report, however with the first Exynos 992 leak, which was mentioned in ZDNet in 6 nm rather than 5 nm. In addition , Samsung has usually first introduced major chipset upgrades to the S range, generally using the latest silicone from Arm in the new year.

A major upgrade like that appears to be very unusual and more in keeping with Huawei. The Chinese brand debuts in the second half of the year with the new Arm tech in Mate phones, which then adds this hardware to the P series.

Would you purchase a Samsung flagship powered by Exynos?

• Yes, a flagship is a flagship
• Maybe, it depends on benchmarks/reviews
• No, I prefer Snapdragon-powered Samsung devices