Samsung Xclipse 920 based on AMD RDNA2 was faster than Adreno 730 in OpenCL and Vulkan tests after all

More recently, Samsung has announced a new flagship mobile processor Exynos 2200, although the range of devices on it the company has not yet specified. Despite the fact that in the first tests the chip showed itself weaker than main competitor in the face of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, now it has managed to rehabilitate at least in the graphics.

Recall, the mobile platform was announced a week later than expected, which gave rise to numerous rumors, for example, that the clock frequency of the chip had to be artificially lowered. The Korean giant has not yet clarified the data on frequencies, so neither confirm nor deny these rumors. Not much clarity has leaked in the data base Geekbench, where the figure is listed at 555 MHz, and hardly corresponds to reality. Xclipse 920 graphics was identified as GFX1040 GPU, and it is definitely a member of the AMD RDNA2 family.

It is known that the Samsung Exynos 2200 CPU is made in a 1+3+4 configuration. The most powerful core has ARM Cortex X2 architecture, the three-core cluster & ; this Cortex A710, and four energy-efficient cores are based on Cortex A510 architecture. The graphics is based on AMD RDNA2; the exact data hasn't been announced yet, so we have to stick to the unofficial data which suggests 6 processing units and 384 threaded processors.

In OpenCL benchmarks, the RDNA2 mobile graphics scored up to 9143 points, which is 50.7 % higher than the best result of the competing Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with Adreno 730 on the OnePlus 10 PRO smartphone, which scored 6050 points. More similar to the truth in gaming applications, the Vulkan API test showed a 25.5-percent superiority of the Samsung chip over the product from Qualcomm.

The Korean manufacturer, we repeat, has not yet announced a list of devices that will receive the new flagship Exynos 2200, but if the company does not betray traditions, one of the first will be the new flagship Galaxy S22 smartphone in the international version. The device is expected to be announced at the Unpacked 2022 event, which could take place on February 8, although Samsung has not yet confirmed that date.

First tests of Samsung Exynos 2200 with AMD RDNA2 - weaker than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 even in terms of graphics

When Samsung and AMD first confirmed that they were collaborating on a GPU for the Exynos chipset, expectations were very high. There were even rumors that the new Exynos 2200 would be more powerful than Apple's current chipset, which is traditionally considered the best in the industry. Nevertheless, according to the first tests, Samsung's flagship chipset presented today is still inferior to the rival solution from Qualcomm.

Samsung finally unveiled the Exynos 2200 today. As expected, it uses the latest cores on Armv9 architecture, which are faster and more energy efficient than the previous generation solutions. The chip is made according to the norms of 4-nm process technology and carries on board the GPU Xclipse 920 on AMD RDNA 2 architecture. Unfortunately, this did not allow it to surpass the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Insider Ishan Agarwal shared test results of the upcoming Galaxy S22 Ultra flagship, based on Samsung's latest chipset. The device in AnTuTu scored 965,474 points. In the Geekbench benchmark the smartphone got 1108 and 3516 points in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. In GFXbench Aztec Ruins frame rate reached 109 FPS. By comparison, last year's Exynos 2100-powered Galaxy S21 Ultra scored 657,150 in AnTuTu. This low result is largely due to the GPU performance, and the CPU performance is only slightly lower than that of the novelty. The Exynos 2100 scores 1,081 and 3,463 in the single-core and multi-core Geekbench tests, respectively. However, the frame rate in GFXbench Aztec Ruins does not exceed 71.54 FPS. As you can see, the new Exynos 2200 has indeed grown noticeably in terms of graphics performance, but almost unchanged in terms of CPU performance.

But if we compare the performance of the new Exynos 2200 with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the result will not be in favor of the solution from Samsung. The smartphone based on the current flagship Qualcomm platform in AnTuTu scores 977 613 points. In Geekbench the chip shows 1235 and 3837 points in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The biggest gap is noticeable in GFXbench Aztec Ruins, where the Adreno GPU as part of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 shows a score of 139.25 FPS & ; 30 frames per second more than AMD graphics as part of the new Exynos. Judging by these figures, Samsung flagships based on Exynos will again be inferior to the same devices, but with Snapdragon chips. Nevertheless, the gap between the platforms is no longer as big as last year, so in real-world usage scenarios, both versions of the smartphone are likely to offer users comparable performance.

Samsung quietly canceled the announcement of its flagship Exynos 2200 chip with AMD RDNA2 graphics

Late last year Samsung officially announced that it would unveil its new flagship Exynos chipset with AMD RDNA 2 graphics on January 11. However, January 11 has come to an end, and the new processor has not been presented. Moreover, Samsung not only didn't announce the postponement of the event and its reasons, but quietly deleted the announcement from the Exynos Twitter page.

According to fresh leaks, Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S22 series of flagship smartphones, which should debut the new Exynos chipset, on February 8. Last year, the Galaxy S21 series was announced on January 14, while the Exynos 2100, on which the smartphones are based, debuted two days earlier. If you follow this logic, Samsung still has time to introduce the Exynos 2200 before the Galaxy S22 series sees the light of day.

Nevertheless, such last-minute changes in the event schedule are probably indicative of the problems Samsung may have encountered. In addition, it remains an open question whether the Exynos 2200 will be ready in time for the launch of the new flagship smartphone series and whether the sudden difficulties will lead to the postponement of the Galaxy S22 release.

Samsung Exynos chips with AMD graphics could be available as early as mid-2021

Internet sources have published a fresh batch of information on next-generation Samsung Exynos processors with AMD integrated graphics accelerator. It is claimed that the market launch of these products will be accelerated.

Images of Samsung

During the recent Exynos 2100 chip announcement event, Samsung System LSI president Dr Inyup Kang said that «the company is building next-generation mobile graphics with AMD, which will be launched in the next flagship product». Alas, the head of Samsung System LSI did not go into details about the timing of the new products announcement. Now, this gap has been filled by a popular online source Ice universe (@UniverseIce), which regularly reveals reliable information about upcoming products from the mobile world.

It claims that Samsung's processors with AMD graphics accelerator will debut as early as the second or third quarter of this year, rather than 2022 as previously speculated. It is noted that the new products will be part of the Exynos 2xxx and Exynos 1xxx series. It is claimed that the flagship chips will surpass Apple's A14 Bionic processor, which is the «heart» of the iPhone 12 family of smartphones;

Samsung has promised AMD graphics as early as the next generation of Exynos processors

At the Exynos 2100 launch event today, Samsung announced that its collaboration with AMD to integrate RDNA graphics architecture into Exynos chips has borne fruit.

President of Samsung System LSI (mobile chips, image sensors, neuroprocessors, security chips and mobile displays) Dr Inyup Kang confirmed during the event that the company is building next-generation mobile graphics with AMD, which will be launched in its next flagship product. That's all that was said on the subject. What exactly was meant by the next flagship product remains a mystery. One would hope that a new single-chip system with AMD graphics would come out no later than the Galaxy Note21 (although there are rumours of the Galaxy Note series being discontinued). Perhaps the flagship with AMD GPU will be the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or another bendable smartphone?

All in all, it's very likely that a new Exynos chip with AMD integrated graphics will be available before the end of this year. The actual products will probably not appear until early 2022 (though, I'd like to be wrong and see the fruits of AMD and Samsung's collaboration as early as possible). It's not yet clear whether we're talking about using RDNA architecture or RDNA 2 already (perhaps it will be their mobile hybrid). The latest Exynos 2100 is the 5nm chip that will underpin the Galaxy S21 in most markets. It uses standard ARM cores in a bundle of one most powerful Cortex-X1 @2.9GHz, three performance Cortex-A78 and three power-efficient Cortex-A55. LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage are supported. ARM Mali G78 is used as graphics, there is a powerful neural processor, a new 5G modem and an improved signal processor. Samsung has also released a promotional video for this single-chip system: