Galaxy S10: Samsung just dropped a massive hint at how fast it will be

The system on a chip (SoC) that is set to power the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is going to be ludicrously fast. Well, that's if its just-revealed codename is anything to go by, with the Exynos 9820 being given the codename "Cheetah".

And, if T3's Big Fun Book of Animal Facts for Inquisitive Children is to be believed, the Cheetah is the world's fastest land animal, with real world speeds of up to 75 mph allowing it to chase down prey and devour its flesh.

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Back to phone industry and that "flesh" the Exynos 9820 is so keen to devour is presumably Huawei's Kirin 980, which right now is the fastest mobile SoC in the world, smoking Samsung's own current Exxynos 9810 SoC and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 SoC in benchmark scores. The Kirin 980 is the beast that currently powers the greatest Android phone in the world, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

What makes us believe that the Samsung Exynos 9820 will outpace the competition, becoming the world's fastest SoC? Well, Samsung didn't codename it Lion, did it? Nor did it codename the new system on a chip Tortoise, either. (That's because according to the Big Fun Book of Animal Facts for Inquisitive Children the average Giant Tortoise's average speed is just 0.17 mph, even though it did famously win a race against a Hare. But we digress.)

No, Samsung has codenamed the Exynos 9820 "Cheetah", which is the fastest of all land animals on Earth. And, you don't go naming something after the fastest something unless that something is going to be the fastest.

Here's the revealing information in full, which comes once more from Samsung Leakster-in-chief, Ice universe:

Samsung has past form in codenaming its new devices and their components with grandiose and revealing codenames. The Galaxy Note 9, for example, was codenamed "Crown", and the Galaxy S10's codename is "Beyond", presumably because the South Korean maker expected the former to be a king among smartphones, and the latter to go beyond (sigh) the Galaxy S9, or any other rival phone.

Now, considering that Huawei's Kirin 980 is "5G-ready", we'd also be very surprised if the Exynos 9820 was not also 5G-ready, as that would affect its claim to be the fastest SoC out there and would run contrary to a wealth of leaks and rumours that at least one model of Samsung's next flagship is going to be 5G-capable.

One thing is for, sure, though. It sure looks like Samsung is prepping its arsenal for a vicious counter-attack in 2019 as it looks to address the reportedly disappointing sales of its last two flagship phones. Being able to boast that it has the world's fastest SoC powering its much-hyped new devices would certainly be a big step towards that dramatic comeback.

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