Following information about Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone 8 which is already reported to have a stacked SLP to make room for larger battery, Samsung is now also reported to use a similar Substrate like PCB – or SLP for short, for the same purpose.
Recalling the impressive design of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, these designs are nothing when it comes to the power and backup time of those devices. Those large devices run on more traditional design from within and with no uncommon battery powers. In short, that brilliant looking Infinity Display relies only on a 3000mAh battery which got the bad impressions.
The recent rumor, however, suggests that Samsung has planned to wave those critical issues off the board with adopting a new SLP model in its next Galaxy S9 smartphone, reports ET News.
We have seen most of the components in smartphones getting smaller and smaller, even the processors are continually getting shrunk for a couple of years. What remains intact, is the main logic board. But apparently, that is going to change in near future.
Samsung has reportedly started preparing for SLP production at Samsung Electro-Mechanics along with three other Korean PCB manufacturers. “We are making preparation for mass-production of SLPs in order to supply them to Samsung Electronics for its next Smartphone.” said a representative for a PCB manufacturer.
Currently, the manufacturers are relying on high-density interconnect (HDI) mainboards. SLP is an improved and developed form and has doubled the efficiency while reducing the width and total area, compared to HDI. SLP allows for even thinner connections, as small as 15 nm or less, between components. That provides advantage over already small chips.
In a simple way, SLP boards will allow to fit components at fraction of the space taken by the mainboards currently in use by hand-held devices such as smartphones. Then the freed-up space might be use for other important components – such as a larger battery.
Limited Supply of SLP Boards – Only Exynos
Due to limited supply of SLP mainboards by only four PCB manufacturers, Samsung might not ship all the Galaxy S9 devices with new SLP design next year. According to report, only the devices with proprietary Exynos chip will feature the new SLP design with large batteries. The Snapdragon variants will be featuring the same HDI as the Qualcomm’s application processor runs on a different technology.
Samsung would expand the application of SLP quickly “once the initial introduction phase of SLP passes by.” Also note that the Snapdragon variants of Samsung’s flagship phones are shipped only in US and Western markets while most other countries get the Exynos variants.
Y-OCTA Display Technology to be used in Galaxy S9
According to another recent report, Galaxy S9 and S9+ will have only a minor difference in display sizes compared to the predecessor Galaxy S8 and S8+. Both will feature the infinity displays as well, however the Galaxy S9 will be more slimmer due to its new SLP design, in addition to the the Y-OCTA display technology as used in Galaxy S8.
Samsung has increased the production of Y-OCTA displays that combine the display with the touch functions in a single manufacturing process. With no separate parts for touch layer, it makes the phone slimmer and reduces the production cost by 30%.
It’s predicted, that the massive use of Y-OCTA displays will lead to a decline in traditional touch screen panels. Similarly, the use of SLP will impact on large scale PCB vendors unless they switch to newer models of mainboards.
