Don’t let their small stature fool you.
10nm chips have the potential to revolutionize mobile tech for everyone from manufacturers to users. It makes perfect sense, then, that Qualcomm Technologies is announcing a collaboration with Samsung Electronics to use its revolutionary 10nm FinFET process for the newly announced premium-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.
Keith Kressin, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Ben Suh, senior vice president, foundry marketing, Samsung, show off the first 10 nanometer mobile processor, the Snapdragon 835, in New York at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit.
These processors are made of nanomaterials—molecules and atoms less than 100 nanometers (nm) in size that exhibit different properties than their larger-particle counterparts: some enhanced nanomaterial characteristics include lighter weight, higher strength, and greater chemical reactivity. Because of these special qualities, nanomaterials have the potential to transform a number of industries from consumer tech to energy and health.
So exactly how small is 10nm? It’s the size of a few dozen water molecules, or 1,000 times smaller than a strand of hair*. Chips at the 10nm size have a significantly smaller footprint than their 14nm predecessors, which means device manufacturers have more usable space to support larger batteries or slimmer phone designs.
Less space doesn’t mean less processing horsepower, however. The 10nm node will help Snapdragon 835 processors achieve high quality power efficiency and performance while opening up territory for new mobile experiences.
Samsung’s new 10nm FinFET process, for instance, allows up to a 30 percent increase in area efficiency with a 27 percent improvement in performance or up to 40 percent less power consumption compared to the previous version. These process improvements, combined with a more advanced chip design, can create significant battery life enhancements.
Despite its diminutive form, a chip of this size can open up critical space and introduce major performance gains, giving Snapdragon 835 users more room in their devices for cutting-edge features and superior mobile experiences.
Stay tuned for much more information coming up on the ground-breaking Snapdragon 835.
*the original version of this post stated it was the size of a single molecule”'
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Francisco Cheng
Staff Manager, Technical Marketing
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About this author
Cisco is a technical marketing communications manager on the Snapdragon marketing team. He leads the charge for the Qualcomm’s white paper program and contributes to videos and blog posts done to promote the Snapdragon brand. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Cisco spent 12 years writing about technology and is a geek at heart. In his spare time, he plays a lot of tennis and enjoys all the outdoor activities San Diego has to offer.
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