Exynos ModAP is Samsung's first SoC with on-die LTE

Scorpus

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Samsung has announced the latest addition to their Exynos line of SoCs: ModAP, which for the first time integrates an LTE modem onto the die, promising better performance and energy efficiency than Samsung's current solutions.

One of the main issues with Samsung's Exynos SoCs was the lack of any integrated wireless radios, which has been a strong selling point in favor of Qualcomm's Snapdragon line for years. Without integrated connectivity, external chips needed to be paired with Exynos SoCs, increasing production costs for OEMs and reducing efficiency.

This is partly why Exynos SoCs are almost exclusive to Samsung products, despite being available to other manufacturers. It's also why only some of Samsung's products use Exynos chips, with all LTE products typically opting for Qualcomm SoCs.

ModAP is set to bring the Exynos line up to date with its competitors by integrating a quad-core CPU with a Category 4 LTE modem (FDD and TDD), in addition to HSPA and 2G connectivity, onto the one 28nm die. There will also be an image signal processor (ISP) supporting up to 8-megapixel sensors, and 6.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth likely through a single-channel 32-bit LPDRR3 controller.

Apart from what's listed above, not much is known about the ModAP SoC. Judging by the few details Samsung has released, ModAP will be more suited to mid-range and entry-level products than the high end, but it's hard to go into more detail at this stage.

Samsung isn't saying when ModAP SoCs will begin sampling or mass production, but as they're playing catch-up with Qualcomm and MediaTek, let's hope it's not too far away.

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