The Xclipse 920 GPU inside the Exynos 2200 resulted from the partnership between AMD and Samsung. And that SoC was basically the first stepping stone for the Korean giant. With that jump, it sees the next phase: developing a custom GPU for its mobile lineup.
This practice is nothing new, and it is not starting with Samsung. When companies start to dedicate themselves to dedicated smartphone chipsets, they eventually launch silicon with custom GPUs. That is what Apple and Qualcomm have done in the past. But the real question is, can the new GPU beat Adreno and Apple GPU?
Samsung’s First GPU Might Be Based on AMD’s RDNA Architecture
The Xclpse 920 GPU inside the Exynos 2200 was based on the RDNA 2 architecture from AMD. And for the custom chipset, Samsung will apparently use the same architecture. At least, that’s what the leaker is suggesting. However, it will not be a standalone GPU. Instead, it will likely need the help of AMD to form an IP.
Until the release of the Exynos 2100, Samsung relied on ARM’s Mali GPU designs for several years. And with the release of its custom chipset, the Korean giant might finally be able to ditch ARM for chipset design. Even though ARM’s GPU designs do not have tons of complaints, there’s no denying that Qualcomm and Apple are leading the race.
In comparison, the Mali GPUs have a significant performance gap. But, with the custom GPU from Samsung, this performance gap could close out by a significant margin. Still, it seems that the custom GPU may not release anytime soon.
According to the tipster, Revegnus, it could take at least three years for Samsung to release its custom GPU tailor-made for smartphones. In the meantime, Apple and Qualcomm will continue to make noise in the smartphone market. But after Samsung releases its custom GPU, the competition can get very fierce.
Can the Custom Chipset Beat Qualcomm Adreno and Apple GPU?
The rumored timeline tells us that Samsung will be taking its time to develop the custom mobile GPU. And if the custom GPU does not perform according to the company’s expectations, the Korean giant might delay it even further. To be fair, Samsung did not have much good luck in releasing smartphone chipsets.
This time, with the Galaxy S23 series, Samsung ditched its Exynos lineup entirely. Instead, all the phones in the lineup ship with Qualcomm chipsets regardless of the region. However, when Samsung works with the top talent in the market, things can definitely take a shift.
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Reportedly, Samsung is currently working on Exynos 2300. It is a flagship CPU that could have made its way to the Galaxy S23 series. But according to the previous rumors, the chipset will be the base of Google Tensor G3 instead. In other words, it will be making its way to Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
Nonetheless, Exynos 2300 is expected to come with Xclipse 930 GPU. It will be a major step up from the Xclipse 920 GPU that’s on the Exynos 2200. And in case you didn’t know, the Xcllpse 920 held fairly strong against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. In fact, the GPU even managed to beat Qualcomm’s GPU in ray-tracing tests, which is not a small deal.
That showed us what Samsung is actually capable of offering. And hopefully, the Korean giant will use all its potential and bring something that will not be a disappointment. Until then, we would love to see how Xclipse 930 of Exynos 2300 fairs up against Apple and Qualcomm GPUs.
