Samsung, together with Intrinsity, is currently hard at work on a new ARM Cortex-A8 System-On-Chip (SoC) that will provide more processing power for future handheld devices. Code-named “Hummingbird,” the SoC will run at clock speeds up to 1GHz without significant impact on battery life.

Samsung’s SoCs currently power a range of mobile devices.  The Samsung S5PC100 Cortex-A8 SoC powers the iPhone 3GS, while a TI version of the Cortex-A8 is at the heart of the Palm Pre; each of these smartphones’ processors run at 600Mhz.  The Hummingbird SoC is designed to provide 2000DMIPS (Dhrystone Million Instructions per Second) at 1GHz and enhanced multimedia performance with NEON technology.

According to New Electronics, a UK technology site:

“ … Hummingbird based SoCs will enable … customers to add more advanced processing capabilities to mobile products without sacrificing battery life. To achieve a 1GHz operating clock speed in 45nm LP process, Hummingbird uses a semi custom design flow. A multi Vdd, multifrequency design methodology was also used to ensure the core can run at a high speed, even at 1V. Low power consumption and high operating clock performance are said to make Hummingbird ideal for use in advanced mobile devices.”

No word yet on when we can expect to begin seeing the new Samsung chip in handheld devices. 

See also: TI OMAP4440 ARM Cortex-A9