Exynos 1610 is more than just a rebranded Exynos 1330 chip without 5G

Samsung silently launched the Galaxy A18 4G last month. Although the phone was expected to use a MediaTek chip, it turns out to be powered by a brand-new processor: the Exynos 1610. While some reports claimed it was simply a rebranded Exynos 1330 without a 5G modem, it actually brings more to the table.

GSMArena recently published its review of the Galaxy A18 4G, revealing further details about the unannounced Exynos 1610 (S5E8365). The processor is reportedly fabricated on Samsung Foundry's 5nm (5LPE) process node, matching the Exynos 1330.

The new chip utilizes two Cortex-A78 CPU cores clocked at 2.4GHz and six Cortex-A55 CPU cores running at 2GHz. Its GPU is the Mali-G68 MP4 (four cores), which is two cores more than the Mali-G68 MP2 found in the Exynos 1330. This upgrade translates to noticeably better gaming and graphics performance.

The Exynos 1610 supports LPDDR4X RAM alongside UFS 2.2 or eMMC 5.1 storage. On the Galaxy A18, the chip appears to be paired with the slower eMMC standard.

More importantly, the Exynos 1610 houses an upgraded image signal processor (ISP) capable of recording up to 4K 60fps video. This is a capability usually reserved for premium mid-range or high-end phones. However, Samsung hasn't fully utilized it on the Galaxy A18, which tops out at Full HD (1080p) 30fps for video recording.

The company also seems to have integrated an upgraded Multimedia Format Codec (MFC), adding support for native VP9 decoding. On the networking front, the Exynos 1610 relies on a 4G modem instead of the 5G modem found in the Exynos 1280 and 1330, representing a noticeable downgrade in connectivity.

In Geekbench 6, the phone scored 953 points in the single-core CPU benchmark and 2,144 points in the multi-core test. These figures align closely with those of the Exynos 1330. However, the device pushed 483,061 points in AnTuTu and 1,434 points in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme graphics benchmark.

Surprisingly, the Exynos 1610's GPU outperformed the Exynos 1580's GPU in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme. And it doesn't throttle at all, at least based on GSMArena's review. This makes it an incredibly competitive chip for gaming in its price tier, especially given that the Exynos 1580 is positioned as a premium mid-range processor.

Curiously, Samsung still hasn't published any official details about the Exynos 1610 on its website.