As smartphone chipsets get more advanced generation after generation, they’ll also be prone to excessive heat, thanks to packing all that performance under the hood. Looking at the direction that these SoCs are headed, Samsung could define a new packaging standard with the Exynos 2600, as the LPDDR5X RAM chip paired with the latter is half the size of the standard module and comes with no performance loss at all.
Custom LPDDR5X RAM size has been made exclusively for the Exynos 2600, but Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro could also adopt the new packaging
The older PoP (Package-on-Package), where the RAM chip is stacked on top of the SoC, will eventually become a distant memory, as Samsung’s Heat Pass Block technology succeeds it and likely becomes the new standard for Qualcomm and MediaTek. Thanks to the images shared by yeux1122’s blog, we can see that the LPDDR5X RAM chip paired with the Exynos 2600 is significantly smaller, featuring 15 pins instead of 18.
What’s impressive about this approach is that the custom LPDDR5X module has been developed without any performance loss, with a second image showing a major contrast between the Exynos 2600 and older chipsets. The Heat Path Block (HPB) heatsink is clearly shown on top of the 2nm silicon die.
Looking at this packaging, it’s safe to assume that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, which was previously revealed to feature HPB, will also adopt smaller LPDDR5X and LPDDR6 RAM modules since there are ample benefits to this approach with no drawbacks. While the rumor claims that custom DRAM chips will exclusively be designed for the Exynos 2700, it’s possible that Samsung also directs supply to Qualcomm and MediaTek.
As mentioned above, with smartphone chipsets becoming powerful and power-hungry, the jump to improved and cutting-edge lithography isn’t going to cut it anymore. We’ve also discussed that despite the iPhone 17 Pro Max featuring a beefy vapor chamber for the A19 Pro, its power limit cannot go beyond 6W sustained as the chipset begins to thermal throttle.
Package-on-Package’s limitations are exactly why Apple is moving to newer packaging with the A20 Pro, but it’ll be slightly different from Samsung’s
The aforementioned limitation explains why the A20 Pro, Apple’s first 2nm SoC, is moving to WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging, which shifts the DRAM chip to the side instead of being on top of the silicon, as shown in a previous logic board leak. This packaging differs from Samsung’s Exynos 2600, but the underlying principle for this shift is the same. Traditional packaging is no longer suited to these chipsets, and hopefully the industry will accept this change with open arms.
News Source: yeux1122's blog
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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