Exynos 1580 Launches with Cortex-A720 Cores & Enhanced GPU

The Exynos 1480 was a solid mid-range chip—it performed well without overheating, which is always a plus. Unfortunately, it was only featured in Samsung’s Galaxy A55, making its potential feel a bit underutilized. Now, let’s talk about what’s next: the Exynos 1580, which is expected to power the upcoming Galaxy A56.

This new chip is a significant upgrade from its predecessor. It features a newer architecture with ARMv9 CPU cores and double the GPU hardware. Additionally, Samsung manufactures it using their third-generation 4nm EUV FinFET process, enhancing efficiency and performance even further.

The Exynos 1580 boasts a revamped CPU design with three clusters: one Cortex-A720 core at 2.9GHz, three A720 cores at 2.6GHz, and four A520 cores at 1.95GHz. This setup marks a significant leap in performance compared to the Exynos 1480, which relied on older ARMv8 cores.

The GPU features AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture, doubling Work Group Processors to two, with the Exynos 2400 increasing it to six. Samsung claims a 37% performance boost and 20% more efficiency at the same power level as the 1480. The new GPU also boosts the GL2 cache for better performance.

The NPU delivers 14.7 TOPS, up from 4.9 TOPS in the Exynos 1380. The 1480’s NPU performance remains unspecified, but both it and the 1580 include what Samsung describes as a “6K MAC.” The new NPU features a larger 2MB cache, but we’ll wait for benchmarks to assess its real-world impact.

The new Exynos 1580 chip supports LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, ensuring fast performance and responsiveness. On the connectivity front, it offers 5G support (both sub-6GHz and mmWave), Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4. However, it doesn’t include an AV1 decoder.

Display and camera capabilities mirror the previous model, supporting up to 1080p+ at 144Hz and single 200MP cameras (or dual 32+32MP at 30fps) with 4K video at 60fps. Although a 200MP camera on the Galaxy A56 seems unlikely, Samsung claims the new chip offers improved image processing.

As we mentioned earlier, we expect the Exynos 1580 to power Samsung’s Galaxy A56, which we anticipate will unveil early next year. In fact, we’re already seeing some benchmarks emerging. There’s also a chance it could appear in tablets; for instance, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE(+) from 2023 used the Exynos 1380, but that’s purely speculative at this stage.