To overcome the long-standing user complaints about its processors' excessive heat and throttling issues, Samsung appears to be planning to address the problem from a physical perspective. Reports indicate that Samsung is actively developing a new packaging method for mobile devices, aiming to integrate next-generation processors...Exynos processorThe design was changed to a "Side-by-Side" package to fundamentally solve the bottleneck of heat dissipation efficiency.
Say goodbye to "hamburger-style" stacking and let the chips breathe.
Currently, most flagship chips used in smartphones (whether Qualcomm Snapdragon series, MediaTek Dimensity series, or Apple A series) adopt PoP (Package-on-Package) stacking packaging technology to save precious internal space. Simply put, it's like stacking memory and other components directly on top of the SoC processor, similar to a hamburger.
While this approach simplifies motherboard wiring, it also brings serious side effects: heat buildup. The waste heat generated by the processor under high load is easily trapped by the memory above it and cannot be quickly dissipated, causing the chip temperature to soar and triggering throttling protection, which affects the sustained performance of games or AI computing.
The report points out that Samsung is exploring "side-by-side" packaging, which, as the name suggests, involves placing the processor and memory "flat" on the substrate instead of vertically overlapping. While this means the chip will occupy a larger footprint, the advantage is that the top of the processor is no longer obscured by the memory, allowing the heatsink or vapor chamber (VC) to directly contact the chip surface, significantly reducing thermal resistance.
To improve the performance of Exynos processors, battery space may be reduced?
This technological change reflects Samsung's current determination to strengthen the competitiveness of its Exynos processors.
Faced with competition from Qualcomm's Snapdragon series processors powered by TSMC's manufacturing processes and MediaTek's Dimensity series processors, Samsung's own foundry processes (SF2/SF3) continue to face challenges in yield and energy efficiency. If the manufacturing process cannot surpass its competitors in the short term, improving heat dissipation through packaging changes may be a viable path to "overtake."
However, this is a double-edged sword. Adopting a side-by-side packaging design increases the motherboard area, which inevitably reduces the space available for other components, with battery capacity likely being the first to be affected. Finding a balance between heat dissipation/performance and battery life/size will be a major challenge for Samsung's engineering team.
Analysis: This is a necessary gamble.
In my opinion, Samsung's move shows that the Exynos team has reached a point of "doing everything they have to do."
The absence or poor performance of Exynos processors in flagship phones (such as the Galaxy S series) over the past few years has severely damaged its brand image. If switching to side-by-side packaging can allow Exynos processors to maintain their frequency for extended periods in games like Genshin Impact or those with ray tracing, even at the cost of a small amount of battery space (or a slightly larger phone), it would be absolutely worthwhile to regain gamers' confidence.
In fact, Apple's M-series processors used in iPads and Macs, where space is more ample, have already employed a similar integrated memory package (Unified Memory, located next to the SoC rather than on top), demonstrating the benefits this structure offers for heat dissipation and performance. If Samsung can successfully miniaturize it into a mobile phone, it might bring a real turnaround to the Exynos processors of 2026 or 2027.
