Samsung's 14nm Exynos 7 Dual 7270 now in mass production

Samsung's in-house Exynos chip division has really been upping its game recently and expanding its lineup. We all know the impressive flagship Exynos 8890 Octa, powering on of the Galaxy S7 variants. Then, there is the excellent Exynos 7870 Octa, which we have praised on more than a few occasions for its power efficiency. Just recently, we heard Samsung is bringing its 14nm FinFET process even further with the entry-level Exynos 7570 Quad.

Today the Korean giant announced it will be taking things one step further with the Exynos 7 Dual 7270. Like the model number suggests, it sits a step below the aforementioned chips, but still has the benefit of the 14nm FinFET process. Inside are two Cortex-A53 cores. The SoC also packs in LTE support (Cat.4 LTE 2CA modem). In addition, the 100 square mm unit also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM (frequency modulation) and GNSS (global navigation satellite system).

Thanks to Samsung's innovative SiP (system-in-package) and ePoP (embedded package-on-package) technology, the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 stacks the AP, DRAM and NAND flash memory chips as well as the PMIC (power management IC) into the same tiny area as its predecessors, while also reducing height by 30%.

As you might have already guessed, the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 is a perfect candidate for the next wave of smart wearable devices - a niche where performance requirements are still pretty low, but any boost in efficiency and battery life could bring about a revolutionary change in usability. Furthermore, the smaller package size could potentially enable a lot slimmer and more elegant designs. Ben K. Hur, Vice President of System LSI Marketing at Samsung Electronics commented on the chip, saying:

The Exynos 7270 presents a new paradigm for system-on-chips (SoC) dedicated to wearables. Designed on our state-of-the-art process technology, this AP offers great power savings, 4G LTE modem and full connectivity solution integration, as well as innovative packaging technology optimized for wearable devices. It is a ground-breaking solution that will greatly accelerate wider adoption of wearable devices by overcoming limitations in current solutions such as energy usage and design flexibility.

The Samsung Exynos 7 Dual 7270 reference platform, equipped with NFC and a many other sensors is now available to device manufacturers and tinkerers. And the chip itself is already being mass produced. Also, we have to wonder if Samsung's own Gears S3 relies on the new Exynos 7 Dual 7270. It does fit the bill, which means we might have already gotten a taste of what the new silicon has to offer.

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