While the tech world is all ready to witness some of the major rumours transformed into reality at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, Samsung too planning a surprise. Reports indicate that Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ models will have artificial intelligence (AI) chips, which are developed by Samsung. The company claim that chips developed by them deliver compelling results to take on AI chips developed by Apple and Huawei.
Samsung is expected to display various capabilities of its new AI chips through the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ flagship models that will be unveiled at MWC 2018 in Barcelona on February 25, as reported by The Korea Herald. The initial experience appears to have reached the technological levels of Apple and Huawei. However, there are plans to develop better chips in the second half of the year, claims the South Korean English daily citing people familiar with the development.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, equipped with the new AI chip, will sport Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC in the US and an Exynos 9810 SoC in various international markets. According to rumours, the new handset models will have 18:9 aspect ratio-supported Infinity Display panels and an advanced iris scanner.
It is said that Samsung has almost prepared the AI chips for servers. Possibly, these chips could be commercialised in the coming future. But the prime focus is reportedly set for an improved NPU that would be installed in the Galaxy Note 9, which is expected for September this year.
As per reports, Samsung has established an in-house team to improve R&D efforts towards the AI chip manufacturing. The South Korean company is also reportedly working with professors and researchers at Seoul National University, Pohang University of Science and Technology, and Kaist.
Last year, Apple came up with the AI-supported A11 Bionic chip for the iPhone X to enable features such as Animoji. Following the suit, China’s Huawei also stepped into the same nascent space last September by introducing HiSilicon Kirin 970 chip thus enabling advanced experiences on the Mate 10 Pro. The SoC has an NPU that carries innovation such as image-recognising Bokeh effect. Huawei dubbed its AI implementation as MobileAI.
Apart from competing with Apple and Huawei, Samsung’s new AI chips is said to take on similar innovations designed by chip makers like Intel and MediaTek.
Intel has now produced its self-learning AI chip called “Loihi” which will reach universities and research institutions in the first half of 2018. Similarly, MediaTek at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 made an announcement about AI chip models. The Chinese manufacturer is currently designing its NeuroPilot SDK which will be used for smartphones, smart homes, automobiles, and others.