I’m a smartphone (android) enthusiast and ever since I had my first smartphone (an Innjoo F3), I’ve been consuming info about smartphones voraciously. Many Nigerians do not know phones, how they work or what they are made of. Even those staff working at Phone dealer outlets are as bad. You’d hear something like “Oga the phone is powerful”. When you ask them what makes the phone powerful? Processor/processing speed in terms of megahertz or gigahertz, you don kill them be that.
Today I wanna talk about the main ingredient in a good phone. The System on a Chip (SoC), it is also called SoC – Short for “System on Chip”.


DEFINITION
A system on a chip or system on chip (SoC /ˌɛsˌoʊˈsiː/ es-oh-SEE or / sɒk/ sock) can be defined an integrated circuit (also known as a "chip" that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components typically (but not always) include a central processing unit (CPU), memory, input/output ports and secondary storage – all on a single substrate or microchip, the size of a coin. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal , and often radio frequency signal processing functions, depending on the application (Wikipedia, 2019).
In simple English, an SoC is a device in the motherboard of a phone that contains all the vital tools needed for the smooth running of the phone.


IMPORTANCE OF AN SoC
1. Determines the price of the phone
2. Determines the speed and processing power of the phone
3. Determines how long the phone would last or how relevant it would be.


PARTS OF AN SoC
An SoC comprises the CPU, chipset and other core components of a system, all on a single chip, hence the name.
CPU – Central Processing Unit. One of the most powerful components in any device.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. Also a powerful component but deals exclusively with pretty graphics.
RAM – Random Access Memory. Works alongside the CPU and GPU to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
ROM – Deals with internal memory storage size.
MODEM – This is the network adapter that is included in the SoC. The types are 2G, 3G/H+, 4G and 5G.
Interface – These are connections that are supported. They are USB, OTG, HDMI, MHL etc.
Architecture – Refers to how the SoC is constructed. Most SoC manufacturers use ARM which is short for “Advanced RISC Machine”. The most common architectures are x86 and x64 – A CPU architecture. x86 comprises 32-bit systems, and x86-64 comprises 64-bit systems.


TYPES OF SoCs
In general, there are four distinguishable types of SoCs:
1. SoCs built around a microcontroller (μC),
2. SoCs built around a microprocessor (μP), often found in mobile phones;
3. Specialized SoCs designed for specific applications that do not fit into the above two categories, and
4. Programmable systems-on-chip (PSoC), where most functionality is fixed but some functionality is reprogrammable.
We are concerned with number two.


THE PHYSIOLOGY OF AN SoC
SoCs carry out the processing of information into data. The better the CPU, the faster it’ll process it into data. The RAM then caches (stores) this data so the CPU doesn’t have to do it all over again. If the CPU is slow, the phone hangs. If the CPU is powerful but the RAM is full, the phone will also hang. The architecture of the CPU tells how well it will perform. A 64-bit system will perform better than a 32-bit system and also with SoCs, smaller is better. A 7nm SoC will dust a 24nm SoC. Processor speeds are calculated in Gigahertz. The higher the processing speed, the better the CPU. A high RAM with a poor CPU will still produce a poor performance on heavy use.


SoC MANUFACTURERS
• Qualcomm is behind the “Snapdragon” series of SoCs, and they are arguably the most prominent SoCs used in recent years, being featured in most of the latest high-end devices.
• Apple creates their own “Apple Ax” series, with the latest being Apple AI bionic which is arguable the best SoC around now.
• Samsung is behind the “Exynos” series of SoCs, which see most of their usage inside alternate versions of Samsung Galaxy phones, as well as Samsung’s Chromebooks.
• Nvidia is behind the “Tegra” series, which are gaming-focused SoCs taking advantage of similar technologies as Nvidia’s desktop GPUs. Nvidia uses these Tegra chips mostly in their own niche devices, but other manufacturers occasionally get in on the action, too.
• Intel is behind the “Atom” series of processors which are x86 and used mostly in low-end laptops and tablets.
• Kirin by Huawei is relatively new.
• Mediatek is a produced for entry level and low end smartphones although they have upped their game recently.

I’ll classify CPUs in my next article. Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome.


References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/system_on_a_chip
https://www.maketecheasier.com/mobile-hardware-guide/

A really in depth writeup you did on SoC.

More or less you just armed some fellas with bullets to win arguments with

abdeiz:
Try to space out the paragraphs and Bolden the headings. Interesting read for tech novices but ugly to look at.

Lol thanks

abdeiz:
A really in depth writeup you did on SoC.

More or less you just armed some fellas with bullets to win arguments with

Lol, how?

atheistandproud:


Lol, how?

With this information, Na to show off na. Anyone how dares goes against their favorite SoC, he'd just fire back with facts and God help the other party if they don't have an equally good comeback.

#argumentContext

Babaheekmat

Oya coman read.

atheistandproud:
Babaheekmat

Oya coman read.

Okay o


.
You con start lecture like PHD in computer science for nairaland..

We Don read and lean..

E seun professor

Babaheekmat:


Okay o


.
You con start lecture like PHD in computer science for nairaland..

We Don read and lean..

E seun professor

Lol. Thank you sir.

Juicey10

Good write up boss. God breast u for me





Meanwhile


Tecno and infinix marketers when they see this thread

Op on point.
where are Tecno and Infinix users, they would never come here lai lai

sunshineV:
Good write up boss. God breast u for me




Meanwhile

Tecno and infinix marketers when they see this thread

The table leg don dey bend oo