Samsung’s Galaxy S24: Why is it Equipped with 4-nm AP?

Amid evaluations suggesting that Apple’s Mobile Application Processor (AP) A17, produced via TSMC’s 3-nanometer (nm) process, is underperforming compared to expectations, all eyes are on rival Samsung Electronics and its counterstrategy.

According to industry sources on Sept. 21, Samsung Electronics plans to equip its Galaxy S24, set to debut early next year, with the tentatively  named Exynos 2400 and Qualcomm’s also tentatively named Snapdragon 8 3rd generation processors, both of which are produced using a 4-nm process. The Exynos 2400 is to be manufactured at Samsung’s 4-nm facility, while the Snapdragon 8 3rd generation is expected to be produced at TSMC’s 4-nm facility.

The recently unveiled Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 3rd generation chip is reported to have greatly improved performance compared to its predecessor. According to a post by IT tipster Revegnus on X (formerly known as Twitter), the multi-core score of the Snapdragon 8 3rd generation chip for the Galaxy is 7400 points, whereas the previous generation scored 4975 points.

The industry predicts that Samsung Electronics’ MX Business Division will equip the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus with Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chip, while the premium Galaxy S24 Ultra will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 3rd generation. Qualcomm’s chip is expected to be showcased at the annual Snapdragon Summit in October, and Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chip is also anticipated to be released the same month.

Consequently, Samsung Electronics MX Business Division will compete in the premium smartphone market next year with the Galaxy S24, featuring a 4-nm AP, against Apple’s iPhone 15. Apple, having launched the iPhone 15 this month with the industry’s first-ever 3-nm A17 chip, has ushered in the 3-nm era for the mobile AP market.

Mobile APs account for approximately 20% of the total smartphone production cost. Advanced process chips, in particular, are more expensive to produce, adding to the cost pressures for smartphone manufacturers.

TSMC’s 3-nm process is estimated to cost US$20,000 per wafer, equivalent to approximately 27 million won, which is over double the cost of the 7-nm process (10 million won per wafer) and a 50% increase from the 5-nm process.

As a result, Apple only integrated the 3-nm A17 Pro AP into its iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The A17 Pro CPU consists of a total of six cores, similar to the previously announced A16 Bionic, but its GPU cores increased from five to six, improving performance by 20%. The transistor count rose by roughly 18.8% from the predecessor’s 16 billion to around 19 billion.

However, many industry reviews suggest that the A17 performance isn’t much different from its predecessor. Notably, battery life appears to be the same as before, indicating no improvements in power efficiency. This contrasts with last year’s ‘A16’ chip, which improved its performance-to-power ratio by over 25%.

The industry believes that these issues might have arisen due to the TSMC 3-nm process being in its initial unfinished phase. According to a subsidiary of market researcher TechInsight, TSMC’s 3-nm process transistor density was evaluated to be similar to Intel’s 7-nm process, dubbed Intel4. The performance improvements in High-Performance Cells were also assessed to be on par with Intel’s 7-nm process.

Given this, there’s anticipation in the industry regarding the performance difference between Samsung’s Galaxy S24, equipped with a 4-nm AP, and Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro models featuring a 3-nm AP. With reviews indicating little performance difference between Apple’s latest and its predecessor, there’s speculation that the Galaxy S24 could be highly competitive in the premium smartphone market.

An industry insider commented, “Given that the 3-nm foundry process yield is still lower than the 4-nm, it’s likely that mobile AP manufacturers like Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics didn’t rush to adopt the advanced process.” They added, “From a profitability perspective, the 4-nm process is much more advantageous than the 3-nm.”

Next year, both Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics System LSI Division are expected to produce mobile APs using Samsung’s 3-nm 2nd generation process. Moreover, Qualcomm’s tentatively named Snapdragon 8 4th generation and Samsung’s also tentatively named Exynos 2500 are likely to be integrated into the Galaxy S25 series set to launch in 2025. While there were rumors that Samsung’s Exynos 2500 would be produced using the 4nm process at the Taylor factory in the U.S., starting operations late next year, recent indications suggest it will most likely use a 3-nm process.

Samsung Electronics’ Foundry division has recently completed the development of its 3nm 2nd generation (SF3) process. Compared to Samsung Electronics’ previous 4-nm FinFET process, the 3-nm 2nd generation offers 22% faster performance, 34% improvement in power efficiency, and provides a logic area that’s 21% smaller in size.

Some experts believe that, with its advancements in the 3-nm and below processes, Samsung Electronics’ Foundry division may gain a significant edge over TSMC. Notably, the recent yield rate for Samsung Electronics’ 3-nm process, which has been revealed to be higher than TSMC’s known yield rate (55%), is seen as a positive indication.

Park Sang-wook, a researcher at Hi Investment & Securities, stated, “The recent yield for Samsung Foundry’s 4-nm is estimated to be over 75%, and for the 3-nm, it’s over 60%. Having improved the yield rate for the 3-5-nm foundry and introduced the next-generation GAAFET technology before its competitors, there’s a high possibility that Samsung will secure new clients in the ultra-fine process segment.”