Processing technology
In terms of specifications, Songguo Pengyu S 1 and MediaTek Helio P 10(MT6755) are the closest, and both adopt the relatively outdated 28nm hpc++ process technology. Then, why can't S 1 choose the more advanced process of 16nm or 14nm?
There are many reasons. For example, pinecone surging S 1 was established earlier, and the new technology has not been used "in time". The more important factor is that the resources of 16nm and 14nm processes are controlled by TSMC and Samsung, and the production capacity of these processes is basically "divided" by chip manufacturers such as Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung and Hisilicon, and the supply chain is very tight. If Songguo also wants to use this advanced technology, it is still unknown whether the actual production capacity can meet the supply demand of Xiaomi 5C.
Therefore, Pinecone can only settle for the second best, and choose the most mature production scheme of domestic semiconductor manufacturers: 28nm, which can meet the use demand of 2855438+0 on Xiaomi 5C in terms of cost, capacity and yield. As the debut of pinecone processor, security is the first factor.
Core architecture
Limited by the 28nm process and the positioning of the pinecone on the low end of 2855438+0 itself, this processor finally chose a more conventional Cortex-A53 architecture with a larger main energy consumption ratio. The design of small and large cores consists of four Cortex-A53 cores with high frequency and four Cortex-A53 cores with low frequency.
Among the competitors of S 1, MediaTek Helio P1P20 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 both adopt Cortex-A53 architecture design with the same frequency in eight nuclear. From this point of view, S 1 is actually the closest to Kirin 655. The good news is that Pinecone has set the highest frequency of 2.2GHz for S 1, which should be considered as the limit of 28nm process. The relatively high main frequency makes us look forward to the performance of 2855438+0, but at the same time we are worried about whether there is overheating and frequency reduction.
Integrated GPU
Except Qualcomm has its own GPU technology, processors of other chip manufacturers can only sign licensing agreements between ARM and Imagination, that is, either integrate ARM Mail series GPUs or switch to Imagination PowerVR family GPUs. The choice of pine cone is ARM, and the specific model is the "secondary flagship" in ARM Mali-T800 series-Mail-T860.
We should be familiar with Mail-T860. In 20 16, MediaTek integrated this GPU in Helio P 10, but in order to balance power consumption and heat generation, MediaTek matched a dual-core Mail-T860, namely Mail-T860MP2, for Helio P 10. Pinecone has prepared a quad-core Mail-T860 for S 1, namely Mail-T860MP4.
Why is there no flagship Mail-T880 with ARM Mali-T800? Like the main frequency of 2.2GHz, the Mail-T860MP4 with four computing cores is also the limit that the 28nm process can bear. If it is stronger than Mail-T880, it will inevitably face the risk of overheating and frequency reduction. The good news is that the quad-core Mail-T860MP4 is not worse than the dual-core Mail-T880MP2, and the quality (performance) is exchanged for the number of cores. This is the attitude of S 1 in choosing GPU.
Other specification gaps
As a SoC, 2855438+0 not only integrates CPU and GPU, but also integrates many modules (chips) such as memory/storage controller, communication baseband, ISP image processor and DSP digital signal processor. Although the impact of these SoC "packaged given" modules on performance is far less intuitive than that of CPU and GPU, it will still be shown in the experience.
Pine cone surging S 1 is mixed in the collocation of these non-core modules. Fortunately, although 澎湃 S 1 is positioned at the low end, the memory controller supports dual-channel LPDDR3. Among its competitors, only MediaTek's latest Helio P20 series specifications are above it, and even Xiaolong 625 still stays in the era of single-channel LPDDR3.
In addition, as the first show of the pinecone processor, none of the functions of 2855438+0 have fallen behind: integrating two 14-bit dual-core ISP processors laid the foundation for matching dual cameras in the future; Independent DSP can support high-definition language (VoLTE) and dual microphone noise reduction, and enhance various call voice functions; Support Xiaomi surging fast charging technology, and the maximum fast charging power can reach 9V/2A( 18W).
Worryingly, the specifications of the integrated baseband chip of 2855438+0 are very general, only supporting 5-mode LTE Cat.4, but not supporting "Full Netcom", dual-carrier aggregation Aggregation and MIMO, and the highest downlink speed is only 150Mbps. In contrast, the bundled baseband of other processors has reached 7-mode LTE Cat.6 or even Cat.7 (supporting 4G+ and downlink speed up to 300Mbps). According to the parameters of Xiaomi 5C official website, the network standard supported by 2855438+0 is GSM/TD-SCDMA/TDD-LTE, which means it only supports mobile 4G and is compatible with Unicom 2G.