Samsung could be cost-cutting with the Galaxy S27's Exynos chip

Samsung has slowly but steadily improved Exynos chips. Gone are the days when Exynos processors overheated, causing phones to slow down and consumed significantly more power than rival chips. However, Exynos chips are still not considered the best, and Samsung may be taking a cost-cutting approach with the Exynos 2700 chip expected to power the Galaxy S27 series.

According to a report from SisaJournal, Samsung is considering dropping Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP) technology for the Exynos 2700.

FOWLP is an advanced semiconductor packaging technology that helps make chips faster, smaller, and thinner. It works by building electrical connections outside the die area of the chip, allowing more input/output pins within a smaller footprint compared to conventional packaging methods.

FOWLP was first used in Exynos 2400 in 2024 for the Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy S24+. While it improved heat management and performance, it also increased production costs and reduced chip yields because of added complexity. To improve profitability, Samsung is reportedly considering removing FOWLP from the Exynos 2700.

Samsung used another heat management technology called Heat Path Block (HPB) in the Samsung Exynos 2600. In this design, the HPB is placed on top of the processor beside the DRAM and storage components in a package-on-package (PoP) layout.

The Exynos 2700 is rumored to use an even more advanced solution called Side-by-Side (SbS), which places a heat path block on both the processor and the DRAM chip, with both components positioned side by side on the same substrate. This design is intended to improve heat dissipation from both the processor and the RAM.

It remains to be seen how removing FOWLP and adopting the SbS design will affect the Exynos 2700’s performance, power efficiency, and thermal management.

The chip is reportedly being fabricated using Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 2nm process technology for improved efficiency.

Rumors also claim that it will feature a 10-core CPU, an AMD RDNA 5-based Xclipse 970 GPU, LPDDR6 DRAM, and UFS 5.0 storage support. It could be used in the Galaxy S27 and the Galaxy S27+ in markets outside of North America.