For the first time, Samsung has provided some information about what its upcoming flagship device - Galaxy S3 - is going to boast. Samsung has rolled out its new speed demon - the Exynos 4 Quad processor chip - that the company has confirmed will power its next Galaxy smartphone scheduled for launch on May 3.

The new chip is designed to give a superior performance and power efficiency. Folks at Samsung claim that the Exynos 4 Quad processor will support clock speeds higher than 1.4 GHz. This statement also coincides with the rumored spec that Galaxy S3 will support quad-core 1.5 GHz Exynos processor.

Thanks to the 32 nanometer manufacturing process, the new silicon will save 20 percent more power than its predecessor (45-nanometer). For more power saving, it will have option to turn off each core whenever not required.

"To improve power efficiency, Samsung adopted hot-plug functionality to support on-off switching for each core as well as the per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), which offers a dramatic reduction in power consumption by adapting different levels of voltage and frequency when changing workloads," Hankil Yoon, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team, said in a statement.

Samsung's new processor is targeting both smartphones and tablets. The first device to feature it is going to be Galaxy S3. The new processor is pin-to-pin compatible with Exynos 4 Dual processor. So tech market manufacturers are relieved from doing heavy development in modifying the chipset architecture.

"The application processor is a crucial element in providing our customers with PC-like experience on mobile devices. Samsung's next Galaxy devices, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground-breaking multi-tasking features, thanks to Exynos 4 Quad's powerful performance and efficient energy management technology," Yoon added.

The new processor is designed to give high-end performance and handle 3D games and multimedia smoothly. Exynos 4 Quad measures 12 mm X 12 mm X 1.37 mm. With a slim form factor, the Exynos 4 Quad feature 1080p full-HD 30fps video hardware engine and HDMI 1.4 interface for clear and crisp multimedia experience. Four cores will handle multimedia in a way never seen before. But to increase battery life, two or three cores could be turned off.

(reported by Johnny Wills, edited by Dave Clark)