Now that the Galaxy S9 and S9+ have made their debut, Samsung is readying the hardware needed for mid-tier smartphones. The Exynos 7 Series 9610 application processor is going to be out during the second half of 2018 with improvements across the board.
Based on a 10-nanometer fabrication process, the Exynos 9610 will bring both power and performance improvements. Photography and slow-motion video capture will be the largest noticeable changes. Improved image processing capabilities will result in clearer photos and support for full HD 480 FPS and 4K 120 FPS video capture will be brought to more phones than ever before.
An advanced face detection feature and smart depth sensing will allow for portrait mode depth-of-field effects with only one camera. Multi-shot compositing is also able to be used for reduced signal-to-noise ratios and higher brightness for images captured in low-light areas.
Much like previous generations of processors from Samsung, the Exynos 7 series is based on a 4+4 design. The Exynos 9610 is comprised of four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.3 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.6 GHz. A second-generation ARM Mali-G72 GPU brings a slightly improved graphics experience although this is unlikely to be greatly noticeable in daily use.
Networking capabilities bring 600 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload speeds from the LTE modem using carrier aggregation. Bluetooth 5.0, FM radio, 4-mode GPS and 802.11 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi are all standard for the next generation of chips.
It is expected that a handful of Chinese smartphones will begin using the Exynos 7 series as it becomes available during the second half of 2018.