Officially Confirmed: Samsung Galaxy S3 To Be Powered By 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad Processor [VIDEO]

Already in production the Exynos 4 Quad is scheduled to be adopted first into Samsung's next Galaxy smartphone that will officially be announced in May. Samsung's Exynos 4 Quad is also sampling to other major handset makers, Samsung said in a press release.

The quad-core processor, built on the 32nm High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology, will run at 1.4GHz per core and is based on the ARM Cortex A9. Based on this, the new quad-core chip is said to have two times the processing capability over the 45nm process based Exynos 4 Dual while consuming 20 percent less power.

Samsung says that the Exynos 4 Quad is particularly well-suited for heavy-load applications such as 3D games, video editing and calculation-intensive simulation. With form factor measurements of 12mm x 12mm x 1.37 mm, it will also be pin-to-pin compatible with the Exynos 4 Dual (powering Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note) making it easier for manufacturers to immediately adopt the new solution to the upcoming phones, believes the company.

Some other key features of the Exynos 4 Quad processor include:

• Full 30fps 1080p video playback and recording.
• An embedded image signal processor interface for high-quality camera functionality.
• An HDMI 1.4 interface for sharp and crisp multimedia content transmission.
• A power management IC (PMIC), the S5M8767, as a companion chip to power the Exynos 4 Quad processor.

Samsung's next Galaxy device, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground breaking multi-tasking features, thanks to Exynos 4 Quad's powerful performance and efficient energy management technology, said Hankil Yoon, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy Team, Samsung's Mobile Communications Business.

In February, Samsung itself released the quad-core chip at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference. It was said that the new processor would have 26 percent higher performance than its 45nm predecessor. In addition, Samsung also promised a 34 to 50 percent improvement in the battery life, The Verge reported.

In Wednesday's press release, Samsung also released a promotional video for the Exynos 4 Quad with a quick reference to the Exynos 5 Dual at the beginning. (The video can be found at the end of the article.)

In November, last year, Samsung reportedly announced the 2GHz Exynos 5250 System-on-Chip, the first to feature ARM's new dual-core Cortex-A15 processor, with processing power that is twice as fast as the 1.5GHz Cortex-A9.

The Verge reported that the Exynos 5250 is based on 32nm manufacturing processes. It brings improved 3D graphics performance over existing Cortex-A9 systems, with support for stereoscopic 3D displays.

The Exynos 5250 would support WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600 pixel) resolutions and would ship in the quantity in the second quarter of 2012, the report added.

Other Likely Features of 'The Next Galaxy'

Last week reports surfaced online suggesting that Samsung would unveil its iCloud competitor, dubbed the S-Cloud, during the Galaxy S3 announcement at the May 3 London press event.

Maeil Business reported, citing a leaked Samsung Electronics SW Consolidation Plan, that the service would be similar to Apple's iCloud, but without any limitations on the type of content users can upload. The service is also expected to offer access to popular TV shows, movies and music with free and paid content, which will be available across a range of Samsung devices.

The amount of storage capacity is rumored to be more than 5GB, although it isn't clear whether that will be offered for free or for an associated charge.

In February, rumors hit the web suggesting that Samsung had decided to delay its cloud service due to problems finding a suitable cloud storage partner. But, according to Maeil Business, Samsung has partnered with Microsoft to make sure that S-Cloud is available globally sooner than later.

Other expected features of the next Samasung Galaxy smartphone include:

• Two color options - one in blue and black, and the second one in white
• There will be 16GB and 32GB models as well
• 4.8-inch full HD 1080p resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio display
• 2GB RAM
• An 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera
• Integrated 4G LTE
• An ultra-thin ceramic case
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich without the on-screen navigation buttons
• Physical home button