Samsung Announces Industry First ARM Cortex-A15 Processor Samples for Tablet Computers

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the industry’s first dual-core processor samples based on the ARM™ Cortex-A15 core. Designed specifically for high-end tablets, Samsung’s newest 2GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 utilizes 32nm high-k metal gate low-power process technology and will offer system-level designers an exciting new solution intended to meet the graphic-intensive, power-efficient requirements of these next-generation mobile products.

“The ARM Cortex-A15 brings unparalleled performance to our Exynos processor family and the exploding mobile marketplace”

"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."

Samsung's new dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 based application processor, the Exynos 5250, is capable of processing 14 billion instructions per second (DMIPS, Dhrystone million instructions per second) at 2.0GHz, nearly doubling the performance over a current state of the art Cortex-A9-based dual core processor running at 1.5GHz capable of 7,500 DMIPS.

In particular, the Exynos 5250 design was architected to drive up to an industry leading 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) display which reflects the significance of advanced display technology transitioning toward ever higher and sharper resolutions. These leading-edge features enable users to enjoy crisper video images on their mobile devices and deliver readability equivalent to real paper for an ultimate electronic reading experience.

To maximize power efficiencies at the system level, the Exynos 5250 has an embedded DisplayPort (eDP) interface that is compliant with panel self-refresh technology (PSR) applied to the timing controller (T-CON). The embedded PSR technology enables static images to be refreshed directly from the frame buffer memory incorporated in the T-CON, resolving the need for regular display refresh instructions to be made by the application processor in cases such as reading static web pages or e-books.

The 3D graphics processing capabilities, enhanced by more than four-fold over the 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, and a stereoscopic 3D feature raise the bar of user experience on high-specification 3D gaming, user-interfacing and stereoscopic 3D video playback.

Moreover, the Exynos 5250 features a doubled memory bandwidth of 12.8 Gigabytes per second (GB/s) compared to current dual-core processors that support a maximum of 6.4GB/s to enable fast data processing features, superb 3D graphics and high-resolution display. This memory bandwidth is a key requirement for a processor to support WQXGA resolution displays.

Samsung’s Exynos 5250 offers a host of peripheral functions including an embedded image signal processor enabling 8 Megapixel resolution images at 30 frames per second, a full HD 60 frame per second video hardware codec engine for high resolution 1080p video recording and playback, a HDMI 1.4 interface for sharp and crisp multimedia content transmission, along with a diverse scope of 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 second quarter of 2012.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company consists of nine independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, semiconductor chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

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