Not to be outdone by NVIDIA, Samsung sent out a press release announcing their next-generation dual-core CPU for smartphones. It is named the Orion, and is based on a pair of 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 cores and a more powerful GPU that they claim offers 5x the 3D graphics power over the previous generation Hummingbird. This performance increase boast is similar to NVIDIA’s, so it will be interesting to see the processors compete and see which is the best.

The Samsung Orion chip has made some modifications for the better to the ARM Cortex-A9 reference design, which should allow for some increases in the performance over other chips that are purely stick to the reference design. These modifications include a 1MB L2 cache which will optimize CPU performance, DDR3 memory support, and an on-board triple display controller. As Samsung has been using a PowerVR SGX  GPU from Imagination Technologies for the Hummingbird processor, we will most-likely see a next-generation version of this being used for the new Orion.

The Orion will begin mass production in 2011 most likely, though it will be available to “select customers” in Q4. I would suspect that Samsung will use their own processor for the next generation of Galaxy-S phones, which could be out before Christmas.

Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have also said they would have dual-core processors in Q4, but there have been no official announcements from either yet. The HTC Glacier will most likely be the flagship phone for Qualcomm’s new dual-core processors with the Adreno 205 GPU, which will be less powerful than Samsung’s current Hummingbird. TI’s OMAP4 could make its way to a Motorola device in Q4 as well, but that will use the same GPU as the current Hummingbird. So it is really down to Samsung and NVIDIA, who will have the better dual-core processor?

You can see the official press release below. [BusinessWire]

Samsung Introduces High Performance, Low Power Dual CORTEXTM – A9 Application Processor for Mobile Devices

TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced its new 1GHz ARM® CORTEXTM A9-based dual-core application processor, codenamed Orion, for advanced mobile applications. Device OEM developers now have a powerful dual processor chip platform designed specifically to meet the needs of high-performance, low-power mobile applications including tablets, netbooks and smartphones. Samsung’s new processor will be demonstrated at the seventh annual Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum held here in Taiwan at the Westin Taipei Hotel.

“Consumers are demanding the full web experience without compromise while on the go,” said Dojun Rhee, vice president of Marketing, System LSI Division, Samsung Electronics. “Given this trend, mobile device designers need an application processor platform that delivers superb multimedia performance, fast CPU processing speed, and abundant memory bandwidth. Samsung’s newest dual core application processor chip is designed specifically to fulfill such stringent performance requirements while maintaining long battery life.”

Designed using Samsung’s 45 nanometer low-power process technology, Orion features a pair of 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 cores, each comes with a 32KB data cache and a 32KB instruction cache. Samsung also included a 1MB L2 cache to optimize CPU processing performance and provide fast context switching in a multi-tasking environment. In addition, the memory interface and bus architecture of Orion supports data intensive multimedia applications including full HD video playback and high speed 3D action games.

Samsung’s new application processor incorporates a rich portfolio of advanced multimedia features implemented by hardware accelerators, such as video encoder/decoder that supports 30fps video playback and recording at 1080P full HD resolution. Using an enhanced graphics processing unit (GPU), the new processors are capable of delivering 5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung.

For design flexibility and system BOM cost reduction, Orion integrates a set of interfaces commonly used in mobile devices to configure various peripheral functionalities. For example, with this processor, customers have the choice to use different types of storage including NAND flash, moviNANDTM, SSD or HDD providing both SATA, and eMMC interfaces. Customers can also choose their appropriate memory options including low power LPDDR2 or DDR3, which is commonly used for high performance. In addition, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver baseband processor is embedded in the processor to seamlessly support location based services (LBS), which is critical in many emerging mobile applications.

Orion features an onboard native triple display controller architecture that compliments multi-tasking operations in a multiple display environment. A mobile device using the Orion processor can simultaneously support two on-device display screens, while driving a third external display such as a TV or a monitor, via an on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface.

Orion is designed to support package-on-package (POP) with memory stacking to reduce the footprint. A derivative of Orion, which is housed in a standalone package with a 0.8mm ball pitch, is also available.

Samsung’s new dual-core application processor, Orion, will be available to select customers in the fourth quarter of 2010 and is scheduled for mass production in the first half of 2011.

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