Samsung Orion Mobile Processor Handles 1080p Like a celebrity [Guts]

Samsung’s Galaxy S phones already pack Hummingbird , among the many fastest mobile processors around. But their upcoming Orion dual-core ARM Cortex A9 makes it seem positively terrestrial.

Among the capabilities Samsung is touting in their next-generation mobile processors: 1080p recording, 30fps playback, and five times the 3D graphics performance of Hummingbird-which was already more than capable . It’ll also support two on-device display screens while still supporting an external monitor.

When and where? Later this year in limited amounts, but should take over the whole Galaxy (S) by next summer.

Samsung Introduces High Performance, Low Power Dual CORTEXTM – A9 Application Processor for Mobile Devices

TAIPEI, Taiwan-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced its new 1GHz ARM® CORTEXTM A9-based dual-core application processor, codenamed Orion, for advanced mobile applications. Device OEM developers now have a convincing dual processor chip platform designed specifically to fulfill the desires of high-performance, low-power mobile applications including tablets, netbooks and smartphones. Samsung’s new processor shall be demonstrated at the seventh annual Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum held here in Taiwan at the Westin Taipei Hotel.

” Consumers are demanding the complete web experience without compromise while on the go,” said Dojun Rhee, vice chairman of selling, System LSI Division, Samsung Electronics. ” Given this trend, mobile device designers need an application processor platform that delivers superb multimedia performance, fast CPU processing speed, and abundant memory bandwidth. Samsung’s newest dual core application processor chip is designed specifically to satisfy such stringent performance requirements while maintaining long battery life.”

Designed using Samsung’s 45 nanometer low-power process technology, Orion contains a pair of 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 cores, each comes with a 32KB data cache and a 32KB instruction cache. Samsung also included a 1MB L2 cache to optimize CPU processing performance and provide fast context switching in a multi-tasking environment. Similarly, the memory interface and bus architecture of Orion supports data intensive multimedia applications including full HD video playback and high speed 3D action games.

Samsung’s new application processor includes a rich portfolio of advanced multimedia features implemented by hardware accelerators, including video encoder/decoder that supports 30fps video playback and recording at 1080P full HD resolution. Using an enhanced graphics processing unit (GPU), the brand new processors are capable of delivering 5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung.

For design flexibility and system BOM cost reduction, Orion integrates a suite of interfaces conventional in mobile devices to configure various peripheral functionalities. For instance, with this processor, customers have the choice to take advantage of types of storage including NAND flash, moviNANDTM, SSD or HDD providing both SATA, and eMMC interfaces. Customers might also choose their appropriate memory options including low power LPDDR2 or DDR3, that’s normal for top performance. Further, a worldwide positioning system (GPS) receiver baseband processor is embedded within the processor to seamlessly support location based services (LBS), that’s critical in many emerging mobile applications.

Orion features an onboard native triple display controller architecture that compliments multi-tasking operations in a multiple display environment. A mobile device using the Orion processor can simultaneously support two on-device display screens, while driving a third external display similar to a TV or a monitor, via an on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface.

Orion is designed to support package-on-package (POP) with memory stacking to scale back the footprint. a spinoff of Orion, that is housed in a standalone package with a nil.8mm ball pitch, could also be available.

Samsung’s new dual-core application processor, Orion, can be available to choose customers within the fourth quarter of 2010 and is scheduled for mass production within the first half of 2011.

Source

This post is tagged: 3d graphics performance, samsung electronics co, samsung electronics co ltd, semiconductor solutions, stringent performance requirements