Samsung reveals high-end, low-power chips for midrange phones

Samsung has announced that it's bringing its 14nm Exynos chips to cheaper smartphones. These are smaller chips that are both more efficient and more powerful, and given that the company is already putting the technology to use on competitors' chips (namely, Qualcomm's), it's no surprise to see the chip appear in more phones. Until now, Samsung's only put the FinFET-made (that's 3D-structured) 14nm processors in its best -- and most expensive -- phones. That's about to change.

The Exynos 7 Octa 7870 comes with eight 1.6GHz processor cores as well as an LTE modem. With that 14nm design, Samsung says that will offer enough power for 60fps full HD video playback, as well as plenty of oomph to capture 16-megapixel images from smartphone cameras. The chip will go into production in the next few months, so expect to see phones with more bang for their buck in the later half of 2016.