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Samsung has announced a new family of low-power chips to power Internet of Things (IoT) devices, going head to head with Intel.
Samsung Electronics president Young Sohn revealed the new Artik 1, Artik 5 and Artik 5 chips at the Internet of Things World conference yesterday in San Francisco.
The chips will be priced from $10 to around $100, and will be able to power devices including smart home hubs, drones and more.
The Artik 1 boasts a MIPS32-based dual-core application processor, flash storage, a crypto engine and Bluetooth Smart radios for communication, reports the Imagination Blog.
There are two MIPS microAptiv processors: one for high-performance workloads and clocked at 250 MHz, and a low-power variant at 80 MHz.
"What’s important is these are smart machines that are going to make our lives better," said Sohn.
Alex Hawkinson, CEO of SmartThings (which Samsung acquired last year), also announced the SmartThings Open Cloud, which is designed to help vendors make apps for their IoT devices.
Geoff Blaber, VP of Americas at analyst CCS Insight, said: “Samsung’s Artik hardware platform follows similar moves from Broadcom, Intel and others. With Qualcomm also set to unveil its IoT strategy this week, the chipset industry is racing to create the tools to accelerate a huge diversity of connected IoT devices from consumer clothing to home servers and gateways.
“Samsung’s Artik platform reveals a new Samsung that is committed to openness and understands the importance of developers in creating and scaling an IoT ecosystem. Success will be determined by Samsung’s ability to provide the ongoing support and tools that developers will demand from an abundance of competitors."
Earlier this year, Intel unveiled the Intel Curie, its own wearable chip which contains a Quark system on a chip (SoC) for powering IoT devices. It features a motion sensor, Bluetooth radio, 384KB flash memory, 80KB SRAM and battery charging capabilities.
The Internet of Things – the idea that everything will be connected online – is a huge focus for both Intel and Samsung, and other firms like Dixons Carphone which has been talking it up over the past year or so.
In other Samsung news, the firm has revealed a smartwatch with a round watch face – the Gear A (or Project Orbis). The Tizen-powered device will have a rotating bezel for selecting apps and options, and zooming in.
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