Samsung a few months ago launched several Galaxy S10 options including a Galaxy S10+ model that ships with as much as 12GB of RAM onboard. That seems like overkill for a smartphone, but Samsung will continue to make phones with 12GB of memory, and supply 12GB modules to other handset vendors. The company on Thursday announced that it’s ready to begin mass production of the world’s first 12Gb LPDDR5 DRAM module which will power new 12GB RAM packages.
The announcement comes right in time for the Galaxy Note 10, Samsung’s next flagship to launch this year. The Note 10 will be introduced on August 7th, and it’ll probably hit stores around that rumored August 23rd release date. In other words, Samsung must be producing it already.
With that in mind, it might seem like the 12GB RAM module is coming right in time for the Note 10, although the company doesn’t mention the upcoming flagship in its press release.
The new 12Gb LPDDR5 will be used for both 12GB and 6GB RAM options, the press release reveals, which is definitely interesting. That’s because LPDDR5 should deliver a noticeable speed bump over the LPDDR4X standard that’s used in other smartphones. Furthermore, the new memory is also more energy-efficient than predecessors:
At a data rate of 5,500 megabits per second (Mb/s), the 12Gb LPDDR5 is approximately 1.3 times faster than previous mobile memory (LPDDR4X, 4266Mb/s) that is found in today’s high-end smartphones. When made into a 12GB package, the LPDDR5 is able to transfer 44GB of data, or about 12 full-HD (3.7GB-sized) movies, in only a second. The new chip also uses up to 30 percent less power than its predecessor by integrating a new circuit design with enhanced clocking, training and low-power feature that ensures stable performance even when operating at a blazingly fast speed.
Samsung plans to develop 16Gb LPDDR5 memory next year, the press release said. And now, for the bad news: The upcoming new Snapdragon 855+ processor expected to power Samsung’s Note 10 series phones in the US and China supposedly doesn’t support LPDDR5 RAM, and Samsung’s latest Exynos processor might not either. In other words, don’t hold your breath waiting to see this new ultra-fast RAM in the Note 10.
