Samsung Exynos chips might end up in Windows PCs - Tech 2 Asia

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Monday, July 27, 2020

Samsung Exynos chips might end up in Windows PCs

Samsung despite facing delays for its next-gen Exynos mobile CPUs is rumoured to be working on an Exynos processor for Windows PCs. Despite shortcomings and criticisms, the company continues to push its home-grown Exynos processors.

A Twitter user based out of Argentina has said that Samsung is working on ARM chips specific for PCs. This is supposedly based on the Exynos 1000 which could be the one next to the upcoming Exynos 992 SoC and beyond but we are not sure about it yet.

Rumors suggest that the processors could be named the Exynos 1 or 100 but Samsung already has a naming in 100 with the iT100 for IoT devices and hence the naming is just an initial guess right now.  Moving on, as it is rumoured to be based on Exynos 1000, it could be built on the 5nm EUV process and hold the ARM Cortex-X1 CPU core which is part of CXC program.

ARM unveiled the CPU core recently and promised a 30% bump up in performance compared to the older A77 cores.  That's not all as, according to Sammobile, the company has already developed a PC version of the Exynos 990 but isn't feeling confident enough on the chipset.

Windows on ARM is beyond the discussion stages right now. Few laptops are already in the market aimed at being power efficient and 'always connected' PCs with LTE and 5G connectivity.

Despite being compiled on x86 and x64 platforms, Windows on ARM is still possible with time albeit an emulation is the temporary solution right now. Microsoft has already partnered with Qualcomm and laptops like the early Lenovo Mixx 630(1st gen Windows 10 ARM based on Snapdragon 835) and Surface Pro X show that Windows on ARM CPUs have great potential.

Samsung's Exynos SoCs don't make the cut outside the company's devices often. It managed to clinch a deal with Vivo for the S6 5G to use Exynos 980 SoC but the company has already moved on to others for the successors.

This could be due to the main concerns that Exynos processors often face, weaker performance and power efficiency compared to rivals like Qualcomm.  That said, Samsung could test the SoC on its own Galaxy Books before securing a deal with other vendors. 

Qualcomm's 8cx and 7cx are currently the go-to ARM based CPUs for Windows but if Samsung somehow manages to outperform them, and bring their recent partnership with AMD Radeon for Mobile processors to ARM based CPUs, it's a deal done for them.

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