Samsung Introduces Industry’s First All-in-One Power ICs Optimized for Wireless Earbuds

Showing its importance to the CE industry as one of the world's largest advanced semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung Electronics announced the first all-in-one power management integrated circuits (PMIC), MUA01 and MUB01, optimized for True Wireless Stereo (TWS) devices. The new Samsung PMICs integrate multiple discrete components in one chip to make room for longer battery life and more efficient designs in today’s true wireless earbuds and other very low power designs.
 
Unlike wireless headphones, TWS earbuds have no wire that connect the two earpieces. Without the connecting wires, TWS devices present users with more freedom in movement and range on their day-to-day activities. However, like other mobile devices, long battery life and small form factors are key requirements for these wireless earbuds.

"TWS earbuds present elevated listening experiences for more users and the trend is rapidly expanding the mobile accessory market, creating new opportunities for device manufacturers," says Dong-ho Shin, senior vice president of system LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung’s industry-first, all-in-one power management solutions optimized for TWS devices will allow manufacturers to craft new applications with greater flexibility."

The MUA01 and MUB01 PMICs have been designed for the charging case and the earbuds, respectively, and are one-of-a-kind fully-integrated solutions optimized for TWS devices. By combining several of the company’s in-house logic technologies, Samsung was able to integrate up to ten discrete components into one, including switching chargers and discharge circuits, enabling the PMICs to occupy less than half the space compared to previous alternatives. The compact solutions can allot more room to the battery for longer playback time and enable more flexible and efficient designs.

The MUA01 is also the industry’s first solution to support both wireless and wired charging in a single chip. For wireless charging, it supports the Wireless Power Consortium's (WPC) Qi 1.2.4, the consortium's latest wireless power transfer interface standard. To provide efficient power management, the MUA01 integrates a highly effective switching charger. In addition, MUA01 comes with a microcontroller unit (MCU) and embedded Flash (eFlash), offering the option of modifying its firmware to support other applications.

With power line communication (PLC) support, the new PMICs can communicate with each other over the charging pins. This allows the charging case and ear pieces to share essential information such as battery levels and whether the ear pieces are inserted in the case.

The MUA01 and MUB01 are currently in mass production and are featured in Samsung’s recently-announced Galaxy Buds+ TWS earbuds, being now available for other manufacturers.
www.samsung.com/semiconductor/