Samsung Analyst Day 2013, its second ever such event, is over and while it remains to be seen if analyst concerns over the company’s future growth have been assuaged or not, the event has given us all a good look at where Samsung is headed. Of particular interest to us is the company’s vision for its mobile devices.
Not only will it look to solidify its top position in the smartphone space, it wants to establish itself as the top tablet vendor in the world. With tablet shipment targets set for 100 million in 2014, it could achieve that goal quite soon. It also wants to expand into new markets, including wearable technology.
Samsung is looking at significant change in a number of areas. Our handsets, tablets and other devices will look very different by 2017. Driving those changes are the rapid advancements being made at the level of different components. Based on the chart below, we could see major changes in key areas such as memory, processors, image sensors for cameras and displays. But each also faces technology barriers that will need to be addressed first.
Let’s look at a few areas that are set for big changes.
On the processor side, Samsung shed some light on its plans to move to a 64-bit architecture. It will be a two step process. First, it expects to roll out processors using ARM’s own 64-bit core. In the second phase, it plans to develop and use its own 64-bit cores. One of Samsung’s key competitors, Apple, already develops its own cores.
Samsung is also moving towards 14nm and 10nm architectures, promising even more energy efficient processors even as they are asked to do more.
Samsung’s display roadmap also shows the tremendous pace of innovation. Samsung just launched the Galaxy Round, its first smartphone with a curved display. Seen by the company as a prototype for future devices, Samsung also expects to have bendable displays in devices as early as next year. Truly foldable ones could follow as soon as a year later but Samsung acknowledges that challenges could push that out. Maybe Samsung’s latest concept devices are not so far away.
At the same time, display resolution will continue to increase. Smartphones with WQHD (2560×1440) displays could be out as early as next year with UHD (3840×2160) ones to follow as early as 2015.
A similar trend can be expected with camera sensors. 20MP camera sensors could be the norm rather than the flagship standard within a few years. As early as next year, we could see Samsung release a 16MP ISOCELL sensor with 1.12um pixels.
One area that Samsung touched upon less is software. That is not to say that it will not be another area where there will be tremendous change. Samsung could well eventually decide to go at it alone with Tizen but that appears unlikely for at least a few more years. One encouraging sign is that Samsung President Lee Sang-hoon has pledged to improve its software by boosting R&D in this area.
All in all, the next few years promise to be very exciting.
Source : Samsung Analyst Day