Samsung Galaxy S5 Octa-Core Processor Revealed? Manufacturer Announces Two New Exynos Chipsets

Samsung continues to showcase its latest products at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona and announced its two newest Exynos chipsets Wednesday.

Samsung unveiled the Exynos 5 Octa 5422 chipset and the Exynos 5 Hexa 5260 chipset, which are both expected to be the included in recently announced Samsung Galaxy devices.

The Samsung Exynos 5422 is an octa-core chipset featuring four high-power 2.1Ghz Cortex-A15 cores and four low-power 1.5 Ghz Cortex-A7 cores. Utilizing Heterogeneous Multi-Processing in addition to ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture, the Exynos 5422 can execute different functions using either processor or both at the same time, making it a “true octa-core” chipset. The Exynos 5422 notably features further optimization, which allows the chipset to support devices with high-resolution WQHD (2560 x 1440) and WQXGA (2560 x 1600) displays, Samsung details.

Many suspect that the Exynos 5422 is the processor for the Samsung Galaxy S5, which the manufacturer has described only as a 2.1Ghz octa-core processor. According to Samsung, the Exynos 5422 is scheduled for mass production within the first quarter of 2014. The release of the Galaxy S5 is scheduled for April 11, toward the end of Samsung's first quarter.

Notably, the Exynos 5422 was long rumored as a Galaxy S5 feature prior to its launch. The fact that the chipset supports high-resolution displays may fuel continued rumors that Samsung may release a Galaxy S5 version with more next-generation specs in the coming months. The Galaxy S5 features a 1080p display with a lower pixel density than 1080p on its predecessor the Galaxy S4.

The Samsung Exynos 5260 is a hexa-core chipset featuring two high-performance 1.7 GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four low-power 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 cores. The Exynos 5260 is one of the first chipsets on the mobile market to feature a configuration of six cores.

The chipset supports WQHD (2560 x 1440) displays as well as 1080p displays. Many suspect that the Exynos 5260 is the processor for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo. The mid-range variant of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 flagship was announced in early February with a processor of the same specifications as the Exynos 5260. According to Samsung, the chipset is currently in mass production.

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo won’t be available in the U.S. and U.K., but pre-orders for the device are currently being accepted in countries like Germany, Belgium and India. Currently, there appear to be no market release dates for the Galaxy Note 3 Neo.

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