The Galaxy S10 will deliver improvements in several key areas including artificial intelligence. Smartphone manufacturers have even been shipping devices with dedicated co-processors to handle AI tasks. Samsung appears set to join that bandwagon with its next flagship smartphone.
Previous reports have suggested that the company's next flagship processor, which will obviously debut with its next Galaxy S flagship, will have a dedicated neural processing unit. This AI co-processor will enable the device to handle powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning applications locally.
Galaxy S10 may have a dual-core artificial intelligence chip
It was reported last month that Samsung’s second-generation neural processing unit or NPU will be present onboard its next high-end Exynos chip. The company does have a first-generation NPU but it hasn't been using it. On the other hand, rivals like Huawei have already shipped devices with dedicated NPUs.
The specs of this artificial intelligence co-processor are unavailable. A report out of South Korea today mentions that the NPU will have two dedicated artificial intelligence cores. This will allow for significant performance improvement, at least in theory, which won't really be quantified until we have the device in our hands.
Samsung's next flagship Exynos processor will deliver significant efficiency and performance gains as it is. That's because it will be based on the company's 7-nanometer LPP (Low Power Plus) process. Samsung is actually the first semiconductor manufacturer to use this chip manufacturing technique. The dual-core artificial intelligence co-processor in the Galaxy S10 will enable the device to handle more powerful machine learning, AI, deep learning image and speech recognition tasks.
A lot can be done to improve a smartphone's imaging prowess using artificial intelligence. Google has been particularly relying on AI to improve photography on its Pixel handsets. Samsung shipping a powerful AI chip with the Galaxy S10 may do wonders for the next flagship's imaging capabilities.
The company may only officially unveil its next flagship processor towards the end of this year. The Galaxy S10 isn't due until early 2019.