November 05, 2019 by Alessandro Mascellino
During the annual Samsung Tech Day 2019, the tech giant announced that they had started mass production of the 12-gigabyte (GB) low-power double data rate 4X (LPDDR4X) UFS-based multichip package (uMCP).
According to Samsung Electronics, the new chip would be able to offer the most performant DRAM capacity of 12GB on the market, both on high-end smartphones and mid-range devices.
It would be doing so by combining four of the 24Gb LPDDR4X chips and ultra-fast eUFS 3.0 NAND storage into a single package. Which would allow the new mobile memory to go beyond the current 8GB package limit and towards 10+ GB memory for more smartphones on the market.
The news of the 12GB uMCP comes after Samsung introduced a 12GB LPDDRX package based on 16Gb DRAM in March this year.
For context, LPDDR or Low-Power Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory is a type of double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory that consumes less power and is targeted for smartphones and other mobile devices.
As smartphones become increasingly hungrier for computational resources, these technical advances by Samsung provide manufacturers and software developers with broader options in creating devices for the fast-expanding smartphone market.
A closeup of the Samsung Electronics 12GB LPDDR4X. Image Credit: Samsung Electronics.
In practical terms, the new 12GB uMCP solution will enable larger, higher-resolution smartphone displays to run data-intensive tasks or multitasking more efficiently.
With an increased 1.5X capacity on the previous 8GB package and a data transfer rate of 4,266 megabits per second (Mbps), the 12GB uMCP is able to support flawless 4K video recording and AI and machine learning capabilities, even on mid-end smartphones.
Speaking at the Samsung Tech Day, Sewon Chun, executive vice president of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics said the company “will continue to support our smartphone-manufacturing customers with on-time development of next-generation mobile memory solutions, bringing enhanced smartphone experiences to many more users around the globe”.
Considering how both Samsung’s 5G modem and new chipset are also expected to go into mass production by the end of 2019, it is very likely that soon enough we will be able to see devices featuring both components—together with the new LPDDR4X memory.
