Samsung has long faced criticism for its Exynos chipsets overheating during intensive tasks such as gaming and 4K video playback. These thermal issues often trigger throttling, degrading overall user experience. Now, Samsung is pioneering a new chip cooling design that extends beyond the processor to include RAM, aiming to resolve these persistent heating problems.
Recent reports reveal Samsung is testing an innovative chip package layout where the CPU and RAM sit side-by-side instead of stacked vertically. This new design allows a copper-based Heat Path Block (HPB) to cover both components, enabling simultaneous and more effective heat dissipation. The result promises cooler, faster, and more stable Galaxy smartphones in the near future.
The Persistent Heat Problem in Exynos Chips
Exynos chips have struggled with heat compared to rival Qualcomm Snapdragon counterparts. Since the Exynos 9820 generation through to the upcoming Exynos 2600, users and reviewers note that Samsung’s chips tend to heat up more rapidly under multi-core or GPU-intensive workloads. This is largely due to traditional chip packaging that vertically stacks the processor and memory modules. The heat generated concentrates in a small area, pushing the limits of existing passive cooling technologies such as graphene layers or mini heat pipes.
RAM modules, especially modern LPDDR5X and the emerging LPDDR6 types, also generate significant heat during heavy multitasking, AI computing, and gaming. Yet, current cooling methods mostly focus on CPU and GPU, leaving RAM’s heat less effectively managed — further limiting overall system performance and stability.
Current Cooling Technologies: FOWLP and Heat Path Block
Samsung’s latest Exynos chips, like the soon-to-be released Exynos 2600, integrate two advanced cooling technologies:
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Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP): This technique relocates electrical interconnects outside the main chip die area, reducing hotspots and ensuring more even heat distribution.
- Heat Path Block (HPB): A thin copper layer placed atop the processor that acts as a heat “expressway,” swiftly channeling thermal energy to the phone’s cooling system.
While these innovations improve CPU and GPU cooling, the vertically stacked RAM remains beneath the HPB layer, limiting its access to heat dissipation routes. This leaves RAM hotspots trapped, potentially causing performance drops during high-load scenarios.
Side-by-Side Design: A Breakthrough in Chip Cooling
Samsung’s latest effort to tackle this involves a Side-by-Side (SbS) chip layout, which positions the processor and RAM on the same horizontal plane within the same package. This horizontal arrangement allows the HPB copper layer to cover both CPU and RAM areas comprehensively.
With this layout:
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Both components can release heat concurrently and efficiently.
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Thermal throttling reduces, allowing processor clocks and RAM speeds to remain stable longer.
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Power efficiency improves, indirectly extending battery life.
- The chip’s vertical height reduces, paving the way for slimmer smartphone profiles.
Advantages of Side-by-Side Packaging
The innovative SbS chip design offers two key benefits:
- Enhanced Overall Thermal Performance:
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CPU and GPU maintain peak clock speeds for extended periods.
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RAM is less prone to overheating, ensuring better multitasking and gaming stability.
- Battery longevity improves due to reduced thermal strain and power wastage.
- Slimmer Smartphone Designs:
- Reduced chip thickness frees up internal space, which designers can allocate for larger batteries, improved camera modules, or simply thinner device bodies.
Challenges: Increased Chip Footprint and PCB Redesign
Moving to a horizontal chip layout demands more horizontal space on the PCB (printed circuit board). This presents a design challenge, especially in modern smartphones packed with multiple camera sensors and densely arranged components.
Samsung faces several options:
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Sacrifice battery size to allocate more PCB area.
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Reorganize or relocate other critical components inside the device.
- Reduce camera module dimensions, which is undesirable amid increasing mobile photography demands.
Foldable Devices: Ideal Candidates for SbS Technology
Foldable smartphones, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines, inherently offer more internal width when unfolded. This makes them a natural fit for the SbS cooling design because:
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Internal space constraints are less strict.
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Priority often lies in minimizing thickness rather than width.
- Larger surface area inside allows more flexible PCB layouts.
It is widely expected that Samsung’s next foldable models, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, could debut this advanced cooling technology before expanding it to mainstream Galaxy S series devices.
Long-Term Impact: Narrowing the Gap with Snapdragon
This strategic shift confirms Samsung’s determination to close the performance and efficiency gap with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. By improving thermal management on the same 3nm production nodes, Samsung’s upcoming Exynos processors can:
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Deliver higher sustained performance under load.
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Compete directly with Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipsets.
- Reduce global dependence on third-party SoCs, bolstering Samsung’s chip independence.
Success here affects not only device temperatures but also Samsung’s reputation, technological autonomy, and competitive status worldwide.
Samsung is evolving chip cooling from a single-component solution to a holistic system-wide design. Their Side-by-Side packaging with full-surface HPB coverage addresses longstanding thermal bottlenecks impacting both processors and memory. If this technology achieves scale production, future Galaxy phones will run cooler, last longer, and offer smoother user experiences in gaming and multitasking.
The coming years could see Exynos regain fan loyalty, not through sheer core counts, but with superior cooling — redefining what flagship smartphone chips can achieve in reliably cool, sustained performance.
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