Samsung Electronics unveils eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip

Samsung Electronics yesterday debuted Exynos 5 Octa, the latest generation application processor.

The new mobile system chip also known as Exynos 5420 is equipped with eight cores, double the number of cores in most of the latest smartphones, and has been designed to switch between two clusters of four cores each for different functions - ARM Cortex-A15 for performance and Cortex-A7 for common workloads and longer battery life.

The world’s top computer memory chip maker unveiled Exynos 5410, the world’s first eight-core mobile CPU and predecessor to Exynos 5 Octa, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

The Galaxy S4, introduced in March, for some markets abroad was the fastest mobile CPU, but the new chip caused overheating and shortened battery life. The is speculation that the new chip may be embedded in the Galaxy Note 3 phablet scheduled to be introduced in September.