Samsung misses its initial Exynos 2200 launch schedule — here's why
Samsung was originally set to launch Exynos 2200 powered by AMD graphics on January 11.
Update, Jan 12 (12:10 p.m. ET): Samsung has put off the Exynos 2200 launch
What you need to know- Samsung has announced a new launch date for its next Exynos chip.
- The upcoming Exynos 2200 will debut simultaneously with the Samsung Galaxy S22 series.
- AMD's GPU architecture powers Samsung's next-gen flagship chipset.
Samsung seems to be all set to take the wraps off its next-generation Exynos processor, which will include an AMD-powered GPU; the South Korean tech giant has announced that its Exynos 2100 successor will see the light of day next week.
In a tweet, Samsung confirmed that it will hold an event on January 11 for the unveiling of its next Exynos chip featuring a new GPU based on AMD's RDNA 2. For the uninitiated, the RDNA 2 graphics architecture is the same GPU used in the Xbox Series X, Sony PlayStation 5, and AMD's Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards.
AMD announced earlier last year that it would bring the RDNA2 architecture to the mobile segment. However, the chipset isn't expected to deliver the same level of graphics performance to Samsung's future phones that it does to some of the best video game consoles. Nonetheless, Samsung promised improved gaming performance with the upcoming processor, which will bring ray tracing and variable rate shading to mobile devices.
The incorporation of AMD graphics into the Exynos processor is not surprising. In 2019, Samsung announced a collaboration with the semiconductor company to use Radeon graphics in its mobile processors.
The teaser didn't specifically mention the Exynos 2200 moniker, but that's what the next-generation SoC will most likely be called. It's also expected to power Samsung's best Android phones in 2022, such as the upcoming Galaxy S22 series, though this SoC is likely to be limited to global versions of the phone, with US models presumably using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.
It's worth noting that this is the first Exynos chipset to include an AMD-powered GPU, indicating that Samsung intends to compete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon and Apple's mobile chipsets.
Update, Jan 12 (12:10 p.m. ET) Samsung has apparently moved the Exynos 2200 unveiling to a later dateSamsung has reportedly confirmed postponing the announcement of its next-generation Exynos chipset.
The Exynos 2200 is now set to be unveiled "at the time of launching a new Samsung smartphone," a company representative told Business Korea, presumably referring to the upcoming Galaxy S22 series.
Samsung's next flagship phone will be powered by its in-house Exynos 2200 SoC, except for the models that will be available in North America, China and India.
The South Korean firm's representative was also quoted as saying there were no production and performance issues with the new chipset, contrary to earlier rumors.
A day after Samsung missed its original launch schedule, various speculations about the delay began to circulate on social networking sites such as Weibo. Renowned leaker Ice Universe blamed it on thermal issues with the new RDNA2 GPU.
With the Galaxy S22 devices expected to be released on February 8, it won't be long before the Exynos 2200 makes its debut.