The Mobile Phone Processors a Full Explanation - Myphontech

We will discuss in this article a Full Explanation About the Mobile Phone Processor (Soc) Simplified way ,For the Top 5 mobile Processor manufacturing companies : Samsung Exynos,Qualcomm Snapdragon , Mediatek , Appel Bionic Processor , Huawei Kirin (HiSilicon), you will discover the general operation inside Smartphone(everything you need to know).

All About the Mobile Phone Processor  : 

When you are looking to buy a smartphone and you have a specific budget, you are looking for the best phone that offers the best performance at this price!
then you look in the YouTube for watching some reviews, or  see their full specification (Specs) in sites known like www.gsmarena.com ..www.kimovil.com  and others.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Specs (GSMArena)

 So now, while you research the features of this Phone, you always hear the names of new smartphones associated with the best features of this Phone: Camera,Display,Battery...And the Key of All the Processor!,Simply Because it determines whether your Phone supports a Good Camera or Not ,supports a Good display and Accepts powerful Games like PUBG or not ,And in the end, it is he who will determine the success of this Phone in the future!

Examples on some of the flagship phones with there Processor (SoC):

• iPhone 12 Pro with A14 bionic (5nm) More information About iPhone 12Pro click here
• Samsung S21 Ultra with Exynos 2100 (5nm)
• Xiaomi mi 11 Pro with Snapdragon 888 (5nm)
• Huawei Mate 40 Pro with 5nm Kirin 9000
• OnePlus 8 Pro flagship! with  Snapdragon 865

All these previous names known just as a processor, in reality it's a whole very complex system called SoC (system on a Chip), the heart of the smartphone!.

The mobile Phone Processor called  SoC (System on a Chip)

The SoC (System on a Chip) is simply the heart of a phone,Not a heart as you think it feels lol, but if it pauses for a second, your phone stops immediately!.

SoC (System on a Chip) such its name, it's a whole system like a Motherboard  of  pc (Cpu, graphics card (GPU), clock,Modem ...etc) all them are  engraved in one chip!.

The main characteristic of SoC  is its low consumption and its miniaturization!, the process used to manufacture semiconductor is around a nanometer! (up to 5nm in 2020-2021, 3nm in future! 2022-2023), found in tablets, smartphones and recently in laptops Like they do Apple with the first ARM-based system on a chip M1, to work with the laptops MacBook Air .

 Samsung would also provide a Windows 10 laptop powered by an Exynos SoC.

PC Motherboard vs Mobile Processor (soc)

The Diffirent Between Mobile Phone Processor ( SoC) vs Pc Processor:

in this table you find the main differences between the two processors 

          

	Mobile Processor (SoC)	Pc Processor
-flexibility parts	No  ✘	Yes ✔️
-Instruction Set Architecture ISA	ARM       (  RISC )	x86 (Intel)     (CISC)
- Manufacture Process	5nm  ✔️	14nm  ✘
- Max Speed clock	3.2 GHz	5.3 GHz
- No Cores	8  Cores	10 cores  ✔️
- TDP	5W  ✔️	125W  ✘
- Heat	3-watts ✔️	65-watts ✘

RISC:  Reduced Instruction Set Computer.

CISC: Complex  Instruction Set Computer.

ARM : abbreviation for the company that designs and sells the license to use that architecture stands for Advanced RISC Machines of cpu SoC , used in all  smartphone processors today's.

 x86 :  is a family of instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel,used with CPU of PC ,Bits: 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit. 

TDP : Thermal Design Power (TDP) represents the average power, in watts, that the processor dissipates when operating at base frequency with all cores active under a high complexity workload defined by Intel. Refer to the datasheet for thermal solution requirements.

• Result : It is clear that the difference between the two processors in terms of energy consumption and heat resulting from the use, the SoC (mobile processor)  are far more efficient compared to the processor of the pc!.
• Disadvantages:  The only Cons of mobile processor (SoC) is that you cannot change their hardware, memory (RAM, HHD) or GPU..etc, as is the case with pc processor architecture, if you have 6GB RAM and need 8GB RAM, then you have to completely change your smartphone!.

Composition and Functionality of the Mobile Phone Processor (SoC):

We will talk about the components of the processor in a simple way because it contains very complex technology and all we are interested in is knowing the features and functionality that you might need in the future to know the capacity and efficiency of the processor (SoC)of your  phone,By Understand it, you will then be able to  choose the right phone when you buy ☺️.

The 7 common components of Mobile Phone Processor (SoC):

Recently, competition among processor manufacturers has intensified Who will provide the best processor on the market!.

 we may find a difference in design between one processor and another ,So we will mention The most common components you'll find inside a System-on-a-Chip smartphone.

Inside Mobile Processor ,SoC 

1) CPU : (Central Processing Unit) 

CPU : (Central Processing Unit)

The most important components in SoC!

Contains several cores clocked at different frequencies as for Snapdragon 888 Flagship (CPU) 8 cores:

1x 2.84 GHz – Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) 

3x 2.42 GHz – Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) 

4x 1.8 GHz – Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) 

For More information About Snapdragon 888  click here

Another example for Apple A14 Bionic (CPU) 6 cores (Note That The iPhone uses less Cores compared to ANDROID SMARTPHONE but with the same level of optimization ,This is what distinguishes Apple!) :

2x 2.99 GHz – Firestorm

4x 1.8 GHz – Icestorm

is The Main Responsible for the Speed of your Phone , for more information about it click here

 ➡ CPU.  

2) GPU : ( Graphics Processing Unit)

GPU   (Graphics Processing Unit)

This is the second component of Soc, if you are someone who likes to play mobile video games especially demanding games like (Fortnite, Call of Duty, PUBG..etc) or who likes to watch youtube videos with a good quality like 4k, this is the part that interests you when you buy a new smartphone , for more information about it click here ➡ GPU.

 3) ISP : (Image Signal Processor)

The Image Signal Processor (ISP) is used to process the images captured by  camera sensor. it also performs other operations on the captured image, such as denoising and demosaicing, for more information click here ➡ ISP.

4) DSP : (Digital Signal Processor)

DSP is found inside SoC, they are widely used in audio signal processing, but also in data analysis of gyro sensors and others.

5) NPU : ( Neural Processing Unit)

The Newest part of soc, With his coming, the phone has become more smarter ,you can name it the Brain of the SoC/smartphone , all smart action is comes from the AI (Artificial Intelligence) , Also called "neuromorphic chip" or "intelligent processing unit" (IPU) for more information clic here ➡ NPU.

6) Modems and Connectivity:

This is one of the most important parts of the Soc, it is about all the wireless signals that your phone can process 2G and 3G , 4G , 5G (G: Generation) and Bluetooth,WiFi.

Each one of them need Modem(Modulator-Demodulator) to Converts wireless signals into data that your phone understands, all these Modems are engraved in a single chip SoC!.

Modems 2G,3G,4G,5G WiFi/Bluetooth in Smartphone

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Modems :

Are the two very popular wireless protocols for data exchange, both modems are integrated directly into the soc.

For more information about :

-Bluetooth click here .

-Wi-Fi click here.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Modems in SoC

without forgetting that the SoC contains another very important element is the RAM.

Mobile Phone processor (SoC) manufacturers and which is the Best :

Currently, there are 5 Manufacturers of Mobile Phone Processors in the Smartphone market known by everyone :  

• Samsung Exynos 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon
• Mediatek 
• Appel Bionic Processor
• Huawei Kirin (HiSilicon)

All these companies  design their own chips but don't manufacture it!, except Samsung (make it's exynos chips with proper foundry, because Samsung among the integrated device manufacturers IDM).    

The others need  partnership  companies  called ( Pure-play semiconductor foundry companies) on the top TSMC ( Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) dominating the market, followed by Samsung Foundry.

Somes Examples Chips Manufacturing :  

-Snapdragon 888/888+ designed by Qualcomm and Manufactured by Samsung Foundry  (5nm LPE process).

- Apple A15 Bionic Designed by Apple Inc  and Manufactured by TSMC Foundry.

- Dimensity 2000 Designed by Mediatek and  Manufactured by TSMC Foundry.

See somes Processor Chips (SoC) inside the Phones :

The processor is an important part of the phone's motherboard, here are some real photos, Apple A15 Bionic inside  iPhone 13, the Snapdragon 888 inside  Samsung S21 and the Kirin 980 inside   Huawei  P30 pro

Top 10 Mobile Processors (SoC) Ranking 2023 :

(This ranking is based on AnTuTu 9 and Geekbench 5 score) 

1. Apple A17 Bionic  (3nm)  
2. Apple A16 Bionic (4nm)  
3. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm)
4. Mediatek Dimensity 9200 (4nm)
5. Mediatek Dimensity 9000 Plus (4nm)
6. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4nm)
7. Mediatek Dimensity 9000 (4nm)
8. Apple A15 Bionic  (5nm)                 
9. Samsung Exynos 2200 (4nm)
10. Apple A14 Bionic (5nm)  
11. Snapdragon 888 plus (5nm)  

For more information click Here .

Conclusion:

In the end of this article we have learned about the most important element  of the smartphone: The Processor (SoC) ,which determines price and if this phone is a flagship or not.

The Manufacturers are still looking to develop it to deliver better performance with less Battery consumption. 

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