Rumor: Galaxy Note 10.1 to come with new Mali T-604 GPU? Could it crush the iPad?

Although it was officially unveiled way back in February at the MWC, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet hasn’t yet seen the light of day. Initially set to enjoy a June worldwide release, the 10-incher was recently pushed back to a yet to be specified launch date.

If you remember, we told you about a month ago that we’re suspecting the delayed launch to be caused by one or several technical changes Samsung is planning to make to the Note 10.1 we saw in February. Now, this suspicion seems to gain confirmation, as the guys at nordichardware.com are reporting to have caught a glimpse of a Galaxy Note 10.1 with a couple of very significant alterations.

First of all, it seems that the 1.4 GHz dual-core processor that Samsung initially advertised for the Note 10.1 has been upgraded to a more impressive 1.5 GHz quad-core Exynos 4412 chipset. That’s not exactly news, however, as we already picked up on a couple of rumors saying the exact same thing last month.

What is news, though, is the GPU which might “accompany” that powerful quad-core CPU under the Note’s hood. Back in February, Sammy announced a Mali 400 MP graphics processing unit, which is strong, but not spectacular. Now, the guys at NH have discovered a benchmark that show the Galaxy Note 10.1 to be powered by a generic “ARM” GPU.

Based on that and on the amazing scores obtained by the device, we can speculate that Samsung will replace the Mali 400 MP with the new Mali T-604 GPU, a graphics chip that has never been used in a device before. ARM, the designer of both the Mali 400 MP and the Mali T-604 GPUs, claims that the new graphics circuit is 5 times as powerful as the old one, which itself was pretty snappy.

The benchmark picked up by the guys at nordichardware.com shows the GNote 10.1 as twice as speedy as the Galaxy S3, which uses the same Exynos 4412 processor, but a Mali 400 MP GPU.

However, the Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji test might be a bit misleading – the GNote 10.1’s actual performance could be well off the charts, or four or five times as powerful as the S3. That’s because the benchmark results are probably limited by vsync and, therefore, are not showing the true potential of the tablet’s GPU.

If the Galaxy Note 10.1 will, in fact, come with an Exynos 4412 SoC and a Mali T-604 GPU, the Galaxy S3 might not be the only “casualty” of the performance war. Even the new iPad, considered the snappiest tablet on the market, could fall victim to the extremely powerful CPU/GPU duo in the Note 10.1. That’s pure speculation, however, as there’s not a single benchmark showing off the GNote 10.1 against the new iPad.

The Taiji performance test leaked and picked up by nordichardware.com is not to be trusted 100%, as it could be fake or inaccurate. Also, there’s no way to know if that benchmarked gadget is actually the Galaxy Note 10.1 expected to hit the market this summer, or if it’s a future version of the tablet currently tested by Sammy, but due for a release in the winter or maybe next year. Either way, though, it’s nice to see Samsung push the envelope and no matter when will this gadget come, you can bet that it will be spectacular.

What do you guys think? Are these benchmarks results real? Will Samsung hit it big with the Galaxy Note 10.1? Will this added performance be enough to challenge Apple’s reign on the tablet market? Tell us your opinions in the comments section below!

NEXT: Samsung Compares the New iPad with Galaxy Note 10.1, Says “Ours is Better”