Samsung Galaxy R, Galaxy P Series in the Pipeline, In-House Mobile GPU in Development: Reports

While Samsung is busy in preparing its forthcoming Galaxy Unpacked event, a fresh rumour from China has emerged that claims the development of Galaxy R and Galaxy P ranges. It is also said that the South Korean company is no longer in plans to continue its Galaxy J-Series next year. The Galaxy J-Series debuted with the launch of the Galaxy J back in October 2013. Separately, it has been reported that Samsung has hired an Nvidia veteran to start working on its mobile GPU. The latest move by the Android market leader could make it a strong competitor against Apple that has been using its custom-designed A-Series SoCs on its iPhone models but is yet to bring its native mobile GPU. Back in late 2015, it was reported that the Cupertino giant planned to bring its proprietary mobile GPUs to reduce reliance on Imagination Technologies the company that offers PowerVR range of GPUs for mobile devices.

The Galaxy R and Galaxy P will be Samsung's new mid-range and low-end series, claims a Chinese tipster that posts unannounced developments on Twitter through @MMDDJ_ account. Between the two new series, the Galaxy P-Series is said to be first range that will have Samsung as the ODM (original design manufacturer). This means that the handsets under the Galaxy P range won't be manufactured at Samsung's own facilities. However, the manufacturing process of the new range is likely to be already started as it said to be due for the Q3/ Q4.

Launching a smartphone that won't be manufactured at its own facility will help Samsung largely reduce the fixed cost burden as it won't need to invest in the production process. Also, preferring the ODM route for the new series, if it becomes true, will bring Samsung to the list of small Android vendors that don't manufacture their handsets intrinsically.

While the launch of the Galaxy R or Galaxy P is yet to be officially confirmed, the Chinese tipster also claimed that Samsung will discontinue its Galaxy J-Series next year in addition to the Galaxy On and Galaxy C-Series. The Galaxy J-Series arrived with the first-generation Galaxy J model and recently got the Galaxy J7 (2018). It's, however, unclear whether the discontinuation is planned specifically for China or for the global markets. Notably, the Galaxy J is contributing to the overall success of Samsung in markets such as India where budget smartphones are high on demand.

Alongside the rumour on its new Galaxy models, Samsung is in the news for pushing the development of its mobile GPUs that are coupled with its Exynos SoCs. Analyst Jon Peddie, who is the Principal of Jon Peddie Research (JPR), has revealed that the South Korean company has appointed Dr. Chien-Ping Lu, widely known as CP, to kickstart the new operations. CP was previously associated with Nvidia and was the developer of Nvidia's nForce IGP that is designed to work with AMD and Intel processors. He also moved to MediaTek after spending years at Nvidia and established a team to make it more independent from ARM and Imagination Technologies.

Peddie reports that Samsung hired CP late last year to work on the project SGPU aka Samsung's GPU and bring a new GPU IP across the finish line. "Samsung Austin and San Jose are now filling out the engineering teams in hardware, software, test, verification, and implementation," Peddie writes in an article. "The simulations have indicated an even better performance than predicted, and the batch instruction processing holds the promise of significantly reducing the latency in the motion-to-photon path, and bringing low-power (consumption) VR, with fast recovery very high-resolution dynamic display capability."

Samsung hasn't revealed any of its plans towards bringing its mobile GPUs to the market. However, Peddie believes that something official could be unveiled "no later than this time next year".

Unlike the traditional mobile GPU models, Samsung's in-house GPU is reported to feature a novel architecture that will make it a diverse offering, which can power not only smartphones but also supercomputers. A report by EETimes predicts that the design of Samsung's in-house mobile GPU could first appear in a future Exynos SoC. It's yet to be revealed whether Samsung will license its GPU technology to other companies or make it exclusive to its own models, though.