So we see performance improvement on smartphones year over year. I mean this year's phones are faster than last year's and the same is true for next year's phones as well. But the Galaxy S22 Ultra will see some big gains in performance and could have the potential to be the most powerful smartphone not just in the Android realm but among the iOS devices as well including the iPhone 13 Pro Max scheduled to launch later this year.
Let me explain why.
You see recently ARM announced its new ARMv9 architecture for processors. This new architecture comes to succeed the ARMv8 standard that was unveiled a decade ago in 2011. For those of you who don't know ARM basically designs the processor we see on every smartphone, in the form of architecture and license out the architecture to various companies including Samsung, Qualcomm, Apple, Microsoft and more. These companies can then create custom cores and tailor them specifically to the use cases that they need.
That's what we see Qualcomm, Samsung, and Apple do with their Snapdragon, Exynos, and A series bionic processors respectively.
So now, key changes that will come with the new ARM v9 architecture include a 30% improvement over today’s flagship core architecture behind the ARM Cortex-X1. On top of this, the cores will also make for upgrades to clock speed and other aspects, which could further add to performance benefits.
The other two key areas seeing improvements are AI as well as security.
Now, Samsung has officially said that they will use this new architecture on their next Exynos processor likely on the Galaxy S22 early next year.
Next year's Snapdragon chips will have the new architecture too.
But Apple is unlikely to use it on their iPhone 13 lineup since ARM has said that the first device to use their new architecture will only arrive either at the late end of the year or early next year.
Also, the new AMD GPU which will likely debut with the Z Fold 3 in July is already smashing Apple's A14 Bionic chip by offering between 25-100% faster performance in the leaked GPU benchmark.
So the new architecture and the new GPU combined will give the Galaxy S22 lineup some substantial performance improvements over this year's Android flagships, and likely over the iPhone 13 lineup as well.
With that being said, Samsung recently unveiled the ISOCELL Vizion 33D time of flight (TOF) sensor that offers precise and swift depth-sensing capabilities for AR and VR applications as well as for better portraits in low light conditions, much like the Lidar sensor that Apple uses on the iPhone 12 Pro lineup.
It was expected that Samsung will also use this sensor on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Turns out that's not going to happen. According to South Korean publication ETNews, Samsung has made up its mind not to include a 3D ToF sensor in the Galaxy S22 series.
Samsung believes that these time of flight sensors don’t serve a meaningful purpose in flagship smartphones right now and its usage is said to be low among consumers.
Samsung reportedly said that consumers are satisfied with the image quality of the Galaxy S21 even if it lacks a 3D depth sensor. But the company could bring it back once there are enough satisfactory AR apps, games, and experiences in the market.
With that said, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Z Flip 3 will have a stronger but also lighter frame than the Z Fold 2.
Samsung recently filed for a trademark that mentions ‘Armor Frame,’ and it is a type of frame designed for smartphones. The trademark documents don’t reveal which material is used to make the Armor Frame, but it is being reported that it could be carbon or titanium to increase the frame’s strength while also reducing the weight. It makes sense considering Samsung itself said that the Z Fold 3 will be thinner and lighter than its predecessor.
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