While we are starting to see smartphones and tablets appear with 3GB of RAM (such as the Galaxy Note 3), manufacturers are already looking to squeeze more RAM into future generations of mobile devices. Samsung today announced that it has developed what it calls the industry’s first 8GB low power double data rate 4 (LPDDR4) mobile DRAM chips.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung is already promising to pack them into 4GB memory modules and have them in mobile devices by year’s end. While 4GB is the maximum memory that 32-bit processors can support, 64-bit processors are now making their way into devices and will be able to take advantage of these latest advances in memory technology.
“This next-generation LPDDR4 DRAM will contribute significantly to faster growth of the global mobile DRAM market, which will soon comprise the largest share of the entire DRAM market,” said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. “We will continue introducing the most advanced mobile DRAM one step ahead of the rest of the industry so that global OEMs can launch innovative mobile devices with exceptional user convenience in the timeliest manner.”
The new 8GB LPDDR4 modules are built using a 20-nanometer (nm) class process technology and support a data transfer rate per pin of 3,200Mbps. All in all, it delivers performance about 50% better than DDR3 memory while consuming about 40 percent less.
With sampling now underway, we can expect the new 4GB LPDDR4 memory modules to make their way into flagship mobile devices such as smartphones (perhaps the Galaxy Note 4?), tablets and ultra-slim notebooks, that sport 64-bit processors (such as the rumoured Exynos 6 and Exynos S) and UHD (3840×2160) displays starting sometime in 2014.
Source : Samsung Tomorrow