Rumor: Galaxy S IV to Feature Eight-Core Processor

Quad-core processors could soon become a thing of the past. In 2013, Samsung is expected to unveil a new eight-core processor just in time for the unconfirmed launch of the Galaxy S IV.

The rumor spawns from an

report about a new chip that would combine two quad-core clusters. "One cluster runs at 1.8 GHz, has a 2 MByte L2 cache and is geared for high performance apps; the other runs at 1.2 GHz and is tuned for energy efficiency," the report claimed. The chip will reportedly debut at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February. Samsung is also rumored to launch the Galaxy S IV that same month. This could provide the company with the perfect opportunity to hype its next-gen device. But even if the new smartphone arrives in the middle of 2013 (as

suggest), it may still include a processor with eight cores -- or something stronger. Without any benchmarks available, it is hard to gauge the performance of an eight-core processor. It may not be much more powerful than the current generation of processors, but if it saves on energy, it could improve battery life for the Galaxy S IV and other Samsung smartphones. The new processor is also suitable for tablets, which could lead to another Galaxy Tab upgrade. Samsung has already begun to diversify its tablet lineup by releasing the Galaxy Note 10.1, a full-size tablet designed to mirror the functions of the Galaxy Note smartphones. In Korea, Samsung recently released an

of the tablet with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). The North American model only supports Wi-Fi and contains Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Additionally, Samsung is rumored to be developing a $100 tablet for Google

. This tablet is expected to be small (possibly the size of the first Galaxy Note smartphone) and would use a weaker processor to achieve the lower price point.