Samsung to develop in-house GPUs for low-end phones and cars

Samsung is reportedly working on its first in-house graphics processing units (GPUs) for its smartphones and cars. WinFuture.de pointed out the several GPU engineer job listings posted by Samsung.

WinFuture suggests that the company will first develop GPUs for its low-end smartphones while continuing to tap ARM for flagship GPUs. In the future, however, Samsung might turn its attention to producing the GPUs for its premium offerings, as well as autonomous cars.

Samsung usually outsources the GPUs from ARM, for the Mali GPUs used in its Exynos processor and Qualcomm, which has its own Adreno GPUs in its Snapdragon SoCs. Apple is also developing GPUs successfully for its iPhones. It makes sense for Samsung to produce its own GPUs considering its semiconductor department has been earning more revenue than its consumer electronics department for some years.

With this, Samsung will also be the only manufacturer to produce in-house graphics chips. This will give the company an edge over its rivals such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo. Setting up a large scale GPU production, and also requires expertise to reach the same heights as ARM and Qualcomm. But if the company manges to make this a reality, it would surely amplify its business.

Besides, the company is also reportedly working on a foldable phone, but with two separate displays. Known leakster Slashleaks took to Twitter to post the images of the phone. The device is currently codenamed Project V, also known as Project Valley. The device has been rumoured since 2015 and was slated to hit the markets in 2016. But destiny had other plans for the much-anticipated device.

The post also mentions that the model number for this cancelled phone is SM-G929F. Judging by the image, it sure doesn't look like something designed in 2015. The display is thick in contrast to the secondary display. It looks similar to the ZTE Axon M, the two-screen foldable phone which was announced in late 2017.

A new Galaxy S9 variant was also spotted on TENAA. The device with model number SM-G8850 looked identical to the flagship and had a vertically mounted dual camera. It looks like a bigger version of the device that appeared in April. The phone (model number SM-G8855) offers similar dual camera setup comprising a 24MP + 16MP lens. For selfies, it has a 24MP front-facing camera, in contrast to S9's 8MP sensor.

The TENAA listing also shows a few more details, such as an octa-core processor (2.2GHz or 1.8GHz), 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable memory. Other features include a 6.28-inch display with 2280 x 1080 pixel resolution and a 3700mAh battery, a 3.5mm audio jack. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel for added security.