Last week, Qualcomm's CMO Anand Chandrasekher made headlines for comments he made during an interview regarding Apple's new A7 processor. He called the chip a 'marketing gimmick,' and said 64-bit holds no real benefit for users.
But pundits were quick to challenge Chandrasekher, pointing to apps and games with A7 support as proof that the 64-bit architecture holds value. And Qualcomm must agree, because it has issued a statement backtracking on the claims...
In a recent interview with Techworld, Qualcomm's chief marketing officer Anand Chandrasekher told the publication that he thinks that Apple's 64-bit A7 processor is just a 'marketing gimmick' and that it adds 'zero benefit' for the customer.
The executive's remarks follow several weeks of discussion on the processor, which is the first 64-bit chip to land in a smartphone, from all corners of the tech world. Here's why he thinks it's more of a marketing stunt than a technical enhancement...
Following their initial analysis of the iPhone 5s's innards, silicon experts at Chipworks have now taken a closer look at the handset's 64-bit A7 processor to reveal a number of interesting tidbits in their initial low-level chip analysis. Based on transistor-level images of the Apple-designed, Samsung-built package, Chipworks was able to determine that the A7 consists of a dual-core processing core and quad-core graphics, tentatively identified as the four cluster version of Imagination Technologies’s PowerVR Series 6, the G6430.
Apple, along with Intel, is of course an investor with a ten percent stake in Imagination Technologies, the UK-based fabless semiconductor maker. Chipworks also focused on a portion of the A7 chip called Secure Enclave where Apple says fingerprint profile is stored securely and walled off from the entire system, except the Touch ID circuitry...
Early Geekbench benchmarks of the iPhone 5s seemingly prove Apple's claim that the new 64-bit A7 chip provides two times greater CPU and GPU performance over its predecessor, the A6 package inside the iPhone 5. Specifically, the iPhone 5s Geekbench score (the new version of the Geekbench app supports 64-bit chips) is close to the early-2010 Mac mini model.
But how do benchmark scores translate into real-world performance in your favorite apps? Blogger Lex McFarley did an interesting head to head test using the iMovie app running on both an iPhone 5s and a previous-generation iPhone 5. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new phone rendered the video in half the time as the iPhone 5...
After conducting its ritual teardown analysis of the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, both of which went on sale earlier today in the United States, China and an additional nine major global markets, the repair experts over at iFixIt teamed up with Chipworks for a high-tech analysis of the iPhone 5s's innards.
Putting the Apple-designed 64-bit A7 chip under a microscope, deep scans reveal the new iPhone engine is still being made by Samsung...
Apple hasn't fully documented the new 64-bit A7 chip that powers the iPhone 5s (they never do that) so we'll have to wait until the handset goes on sale this Friday so that Chipworks can put the chip under a microscope, but that hasn't stopped people in the know from speculating.
AnandTech knows hardware perhaps better than anyone else out there and its founder Anand Lal Shimpi posted a detailed iPHone 5s review which, among other things, put the A7 chip through its paces to conclude that Apple is still using a dual-core design for the CPU part...
With its new flagship iPhone 5s, Apple is ushering in an era of 64-bit computing on smartphones, an unexpected move which has left rivals such as Samsung scrambling to release mobile devices running 64-bit processors at some point in 2014 - with absolutely no clear idea of how the hardware and software will work together to improve their apps.
In the meantime, Apple is now asking its registered iOS developers to optimize and submit their warez for the device's 64-bit A7 chip...
One of the big new features in the iPhone 5s is its A7 processor with '64-bit desktop-class architecture.' What these buzzwords essentially mean is that the thing is fast—Apple says the CPU is 40x faster and graphics are 56x faster than the original iPhone.
But that doesn't really tell us much in the way of performance, does it? Luckily, an early graphics benchmark for the handset surfaced this morning that gives us a better idea of how the 5s will perform. And the results show significant gains over the iPhone 5...
Along with Apple's just announced A7 chip, comes a companion chip called the M7 that serves as a "Motion coprocessor." The purpose of this chip is to constantly measure motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass built into the iPhone 5s.
This promises to open up a new playing field for health and fitness apps, in that they can actively track whether or not you're stationary, walking, driving, and more.
In revealing the new top-line iPhone 5s smartphone, Apple spent some air time talking about the all-new A7 chip. Contrary to previous reports and the somewhat mixed rumors, the new chip is 64-bit. This is huge. It's the first time Apple's made a jump to the modern 64-bit mobile architecture.
Apple says it's the first such piece of silicon in a smartphone ("I don't think the other guys are even talking about this," Schiller said) and notes iOS 7 has been specifically designed with 64-bit computing in mind. They are calling it a "huge leap forward in mobile computing performance" as the A7 enables "desktop-class architecture" on a mobile device...
According to sources who spoke with an anchor for Fox News Channel, the A7 chip expected to power Apple's iPhone 5S is "very fast," nearly a third faster than the A6 silicon ticking inside the current-generation iPhone 5. That's only half the story as the reporter has also heard there’s a separate chip inside the device devoted to motion tracking.
Oh, and a prominent blogger has independently heard claims that some of the internal iPhone 5S prototypes include a 64-bit flavor of the A7 chip. He's also learned a couple interesting tidbits concerning the rumored fingerprint sensor, the way it works and how it could lend itself to mobile payments integration...
As iOS 7 gets closer and closer to release, developers digging through the depths of the firmware continue to find more and more hidden gems. Thus far, the coding has revealed fingerprint sensor support, an A6 iPad mini without a Retina display, and now this.
A new discovery in the code has surfaced this afternoon that shines some light on the processor which Apple is expected to use in its upcoming iPhone 5S. Apple is believed to be developing a new A7 chip, and according to today's finding, it's made by Samsung...