Samsung Announces LPDDR5X DRAM for Smartphones; 1.3x Faster Than LPDDR5 With Speeds up to 8.5Gbps
Samsung today officially announced LPDDR5X DRAM chips for smartphones and other applications. Compared to the LPDDR5 standard, the new chips bring increased speeds, and it will be no surprise that we will see them in action in several 2022 flagship handsets.
[...] In contrast to LPDDR5's 6.4Gbps maximum bandwidth, LPDDR5X can achieve 1.3-times the performance with processing speeds that go up to 8.5Gbps. Samsung has used its 14nm technology to mass produce the next-generation DRAM chips, and it will be advantageous for portable devices too because the new standard is 20 percent more energy-efficient than LPDDR5.
The press release says that 16Gb LPDDR5X chips will enable 64 GB memory packages, "accommodating increasing demand for higher-capacity mobile DRAM worldwide." In other words, Samsung is planning to put 32 dies in a single package, and eventually stick 64 gigabytes of memory in smartphones (or tablets, or laptops). Recently, Samsung has been making 16 GB packages with only 12 or 8 dies:
The 16Gb LPDDR5 can build a 16GB package with only eight chips, whereas its 1y-based predecessor requires 12 chips (eight 12Gb chips and four 8Gb chips) to provide the same capacity.
Also at AnandTech.
Previously: SK Hynix Announces 8 GB LPDDR4x DRAM Package for Mobile Devices
Samsung Announces LPDDR5 DRAM Prototype Before Specification is Finalized
Samsung Announces Mass Production of 16 GB LPDDR5 DRAM Packages
SK Hynix Begins Production of 18 GB LPDDR5 Memory... for Smartphones
Related Stories
Back in October, we reported that Samsung announced an 8 GB LPDDR4-4266 DRAM package for smartphones and other mobile devices. Now, SK Hynix has announced an 8 GB LPDDR4x-4266 DRAM package for smartphones. LPDDR4x is a proposed variant to LPDDR4 that is identical, except that the I/O voltage is reduced from 1.1 V to 0.6 V. It is expected to cut the power consumption of the DRAM sub-system by 18-20% (compared to 8 GB LPDDR4-4266).
Oddly enough, Samsung proposed the LPDDR4x variant yet it looks like SK Hynix will beat them to the market:
The first application processor to support the new type of memory is MediaTek's Helio P20 that was announced nearly a year ago and the initial devices powered by the chip are likely to hit the market in 1H 2017. Another notable SoC to support LPDDR4X is Qualcomm's new flagship Snapdragon 835, which was announced in November and detailed earlier this month. Smartphones featuring this chip will not show up for a while, but MWC [(Mobile World Congress) is] just around the corner which lends nicely to various handset announcements.
The 8 GB (64 Gb) LPDDR4X package stacks four 16 Gb DRAM parts that feature a 4266 MT/s data transfer rate and provide up to 34.1 GB/s of bandwidth when connected to an application processor using a 64-bit memory bus. For its 8 GB LPDDR4X solution SK Hynix uses a new 12 mm × 12.7 mm BGA package, which is 30% smaller compared to standard LPDDR4 stacks that come in 15 mm × 15 mm form-factor. SK Hynix's 8 GB LPDDR4X solution has a thickness of less than 1 mm to enable PoP stacking with a mobile application processor or a UFS NAND storage device.
The lineup will eventually be expanded to include packages with less than 8 GB of memory and lower data rates such as 3733 MT/s.
Samsung Announces First LPDDR5 DRAM Chip, Targets 6.4Gbps Data Rates & 30% Reduced Power
[Samsung] is announcing that they have completed fabrication, functional testing, and validation of a prototype 8Gbit LPDDR5 module. The company is targeting data rates up to 6.4Gbps-per-pin with the new memory, and while Samsung isn't ready to start mass production quite yet, the company's press release notes that they're already eyeing it.
[...] In terms of performance, Samsung is targeting up to 6.4Gbps/pin with the new memory. Which for a typical 32-bit bus chip works out to 25.6GB/sec of memory bandwidth. This is a 50% increase in bandwidth over the current LPDDR4(X) standard, which tops out at 4.266Gbps under the same conditions. So for a high-end phone where 64-bit memory buses are common, we'd be looking at over 50GB/sec of memory bandwidth, and over 100GB/sec for a standard 128-bit bus PC.
Samsung Starts Mass Production of Second-Gen 16GB LPDDR5 RAM for Future Premium Smartphones
Samsung has announced that it will kick off mass production of the world's first 16GB LPDDR5 RAM package for future smartphones. Last year, the Korean giant stated that it started mass production of 12GB LPDDR5 RAM. For 2020, Samsung has taken that production dial to the next phase and claims that the new RAM packages will enable users to experience enhanced 5G and AI features ranging from graphic-rich gaming and smart photography.
According to the company, the data transfer rate for the 16GB LPDDR5 [package] is 5500Mb/s (megabits per second), making it significantly faster than the previous-generation LPDRR4X RAM package, which peaks out at 4266Mb/s. That's not the only benefit of using these chips, because compared to an 8GB LPDDR4X package, the new mobile DRAM can deliver more than 20 percent power savings while offering twice the memory capacity.
16 GB DRAM packages could also be used in single board computers and other compact systems. For example, the BCM2711 SoC used in the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B can theoretically address up to 16 GB of memory.
Samsung press release. Also at AnandTech.
Previously: Samsung Announces 8 GB DRAM Package for Mobile Devices
Samsung Announces LPDDR5 DRAM Prototype Before Specification is Finalized
Samsung Begins Mass Producing 12 GB DRAM Packages for Smartphones
Samsung Mass Producing LPDDR5 DRAM (12 Gb x 8 for 12 GB Packages)
Get Ready for Smartphones with 16 GB of RAM
SK Hynix Commences Mass Production of 18GB LPDDR5 RAM Chips for Smartphones With 6,400Mbps Speeds
Android phone makers will continue to push the limits of hardware specifications, and from the looks of it, SK Hynix will lend out more than just a helping hand. The memory manufacturer today announced that it has started mass production of 18GB LPDDR5 RAM chips for flagship smartphones, meaning that premium handsets touting more memory than notebooks will become a commonplace.
SK Hynix claims that its 18GB LPDDR5 RAM for smartphones can operate up to 6,400Mbps, making it around 20 percent faster than the previous-generation LPDDR5 RAM, which could run up to 5,500Mbps. The manufacturer also mentions that it has supplied ASUS with these DRAM chips for the upcoming ROG Phone 5 flagship. Keep in mind that during a specifications leak, the ROG Phone 5 was spotted with the aforementioned RAM count.
Why does a smartphone need 18 GB of memory instead of the previous 16 GB? From the press release:
"This product will improve the processing speed and image quality by expanding the data temporary storage space, as the capacity increases compared to the previous 16GB product," an official from the company said.
So we will see smartphones with 18 GB of RAM, or perhaps smartphones or laptops with 16/32 GB of error correction code (ECC) LPDDR5 memory.
Previously: Samsung Begins Mass Producing 12 GB DRAM Packages for Smartphones
Samsung Mass Producing LPDDR5 DRAM (12 Gb x 8 for 12 GB Packages)
Get Ready for Smartphones with 16 GB of RAM
Samsung Announces Mass Production of 16 GB LPDDR5 DRAM Packages
Android phone hits 24GB of RAM, as much as a 13-inch MacBook Pro
Android manufacturers tend to love big spec sheets, even if those giant numbers won't do much for day-to-day phone usage. In that vein, we've got the new high-water mark for ridiculous amounts of memory in a phone. The new Nubia RedMagic 8S Pro+ is an Android gaming phone with an option for 24GB of RAM.
The base model of the RedMagic 8S Pro+ starts with 16GB of RAM, but GSMArena has pictures and details of the upgraded 24GB SKU, which is the most amount of memory ever in an Android phone. Because we're all about big numbers, it also comes with 1TB of storage. [...] This suped-up 24GB version of the phone appears to be a China-exclusive, with the price at CNY 7,499 (about $1,034), which is a lot for a phone in China.
You definitely want an adequate amount of RAM in an Android phone. All these apps are designed around cheap phones, though, and with Android's aggressive background app management, there's usually not much of a chance to use a ton of RAM. Theoretically, a phone like this would let you multitask better, since apps could stay in memory longer, and you wouldn't have to start them back up when switching tasks. Most people aren't quickly switching through that many apps, though, and some heavy apps, games especially, will just automatically turn off a few seconds once they're in the background.
There were a few smartphones on the market with 18 GB, but it looks like 20 GB has been skipped entirely by Nubia.
Now we need to be on the lookout for 32 GB of RAM and alien technology in upcoming smartphones.
Previously: SK Hynix Begins Production of 18 GB LPDDR5 Memory... for Smartphones
Samsung Announces Development of LPDDR5X Memory
(Score: 2, Disagree) by DannyB on Tuesday November 09 2021, @07:20PM (8 children)
Geez. That's WAY more powerful than most PCs even now, and some servers of not long ago.
Even today's current cell phones, and even wristwatches (with Linux inside) are more powerful than desktop PCs and servers of the 90's. (that's NINTEEN 90's, for clarification.)
Remember when an Altair 8800 came with 256 bytes of RAM?
Universal health care is so complex that only 32 of 33 developed nations have found a way to make it work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09 2021, @07:32PM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 09 2021, @07:49PM
Steam Hardware Survey [steampowered.com] says 23% of users have 8 GB of RAM, 46% have 16 GB of RAM, 13% have more than 16 GB. That's consistent with what you find in cheaper laptops and desktops (Chromebooks tend to have as little as 4 GB).
I'm not sure I've noticed any memory packages with even 16 dies, so 32 dies for 64 GB is incredibly aggressive. Not that manufacturers won't take it. How about a laptop with 128 GB of soldered memory?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday November 09 2021, @09:44PM (5 children)
The real limiting factor for smartphones is the accessories. E.g. I find the built-in keyboards nearly unusable, and I'd never want to program on a smartphone screen. This can be addressed, but only at the cost of portability, and in that case why bother? (There are use cases with an answer to that, but I don't have those uses.)
FWIW, I find even laptops to be overly constraining. And for me a "full size keyboard" is slightly too small. (OTOH, a larger keyboard wouldn't fit nicely in my desk, because the keyboard tray thoughtfully has risers at the side constraining the space allocate to the combination of keyboard + mouse.)
It reminds me a bit of the early days of home computers, where the REAL advantage of mainframes for most problems was the fancy tape drives and printers. Yes, there were problems where the computation required a mainframe's power, but those were rare compared to the problems where the data throughput required a mainframe's tape drives (or other data store).
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 09 2021, @09:51PM (4 children)
Get a phone with a Samsung DeX-like mode (which will be included [xda-developers.com] by all Android devices eventually), plug it into a USB-C dock, connect your choice of display/TV, keyboard, mouse. You don't even need to use flaky Bluetooth necessarily.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 10 2021, @04:06AM
You can do that, but at the sacrifice of portability, which is really the only thing phones have going for them as a development system.
I'd rather use a real desktop for development. Which means that for my phone I'm more concerned about battery life than speed.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Wednesday November 10 2021, @04:51PM (2 children)
When that gets ironed out, I'm all over that! It would be time for an upgrade. Until then, I'm keeping my $40 Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown... it just works.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday November 10 2021, @05:17PM (1 child)
It's too bad they don't allow more lower-end devices to use DeX.
In the meantime, you could try screen mirroring using scrcpy [wikipedia.org]. I've used that to control a Galaxy S9 using a Raspberry Pi + TV, normal keyboard, etc. With a dual-display setup, you could put the phone fullscreen on one display and the native OS applications on the other.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Thursday November 11 2021, @10:55AM
I'll try that. My Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown has smartview built in to mirror the screen. The problem is that most Samsung phones stutter and drop sound every three seconds. I have that problem and even people with a Galaxy Note 10 and a $3000 Samsung TV still have this same problem. It's a known problem for a long time, but Samsung doesn't seem to care at all.
Tells you something about Samsung.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Tuesday November 09 2021, @10:17PM (1 child)
Whenever an app on my phone slows to a crawl it's because it's connecting to an ad network. Installing a phone wide ad-blocker sped things up a helluva lot more than any CPU/RAM ever could.
Note to app developers. If it takes 5-10 seconds to come up, but less than a second once I install an ad-blocker, then your app fails. I'm specifically looking at the Samsung TV remote app. Without the ad blocker it takes 5-10 seconds to come up, usually with an ad. With the ad blocker it's up before my finger leaves the touchpad.
Not like I'm trying to run Crysis on my phone...
Bad decisions, great stories
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Thursday November 11 2021, @11:17AM
What phone wide ad blocker did you go with. Sounds like a good idea.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09 2021, @10:50PM
/me reserves a space at the junkyard: "be ready in 3 years time"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 10 2021, @04:23PM (1 child)
Can someone please decipher that rather large acronym for me? "LPDDR5X" is a funny way to spell "new kind of memory".
A Black, Hispanic, or Muslim voting for Trump is like a Jew voting for Hitler
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday November 10 2021, @04:49PM
LPDDR5X SDRAM = Low-Power Double Data Rate 5 (We Can't Wait For Another Version So Here's An 'X') Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]