LPDDR5 mobile DRAM is expected to be widely adopted in 5G smartphones in 2020 with Samsung Electronics set to feature its in-house made LPDDR5 memory in its flagship 5G smartphones for 2020, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Follow Samsung Electronics' announcement to begin mass production of LPDDR5 DRAM, Micron also recently started production of the memory.
Although Samsung already began production of 12Gb LPDDR5 mobile DRAM in the third quarter of 2019, the Korea-based vendor was unable to use the memory in its flagship Galaxy Note 10, whose Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor does not support the memory standard.
However, Samsung's new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S20, to be launched in 2020 will use Qualcomm's S865 platform, and is expected to adopt LPDDR5 DRAM, which supports up to 55,000Mbs of transmission speed, is 130% faster than LPDDR4 and consumes 30% less power, the sources said.
In addition to Samsung, several Chinese brands are also set to use LPDDR5 memory for their new flagship smartphones in early 2020 and will help make LPDDR5 the new standard memory specification for 5G flagship smartphones in 2020.
ZTE's new Axon 10s Pro 5G is expected to be the first flagship smartphone released to come with Qualcomm's S865 processor and support LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.0, the sources said.
Xiaomi has also recently hinted of releasing its first LPDDR5 smartphone in the first quarter of 2020 with some market watchers expecting both Xiaomi 10 and Redmi K30 Pro to be equipped with such memory. Xiaomi is estimated to release over 10 5G smartphones in 2020.
Samsung's new production lines in Pyeongtaek, South Korea for making 12Gb memory chips will begin operation in 2020 as demand for LPDDR5 DRAM packed with eight 12Gb memory chips will expand. The Korea-based brand is also planning to begin the development of 16Gb LPDDR5 memory chip later in 2020.
Micron is currently making 16Gb DDR4 and LPDDR4 memory chips with its 1znm technology and has started production of LPDDR5 memory recently, said the sources. SK Hynix at the moment is expanding its 1znm capacity for 16Gb DDR4 and is also looking to activate volume production of LPDDR5 in 2020.
With the upgrade, smartphones' basic DRAM capacity is also expected to grow from 6GB at the moment to 8GB and even 12GB in 2020.
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
