He said it brings nothing
to the table at this point for consumers, but plans to release a 64-bit
chip for Android/Windows Phones
A Qualcomm executive doesn't think Apple's new 64-bit A7 processor is a huge, necessary iPhone upgrade. In fact, he called it a "marketing gimmick."
Anand Chandrasekher -- senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Qualcomm -- said that Apple's 64-bit processor in the new iPhone 5S doesn't offer a big enough reason for consumers to upgrade.
"I know there's a lot of noise because Apple did [64-bit] on their A7," said Chandrasekher. "I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There's zero benefit a consumer gets from that.
"Predominantly... you need it for memory addressability beyond 4GB. That's it. You don't really need it for performance, and the kinds of applications that 64-bit get used in mostly are large, server-class applications."
One key advantage of a 64-bit processor is more memory addressability, but the iPhone 5S has only 1GB of DRAM.
Chandrasekher said 64-bit chips aren't "relevant" in today's smartphones or tablets. Many have even said that the processor in Apple's new iPhone can't be credited entirely for performance boosts in benchmark tests.
Qualcomm provides its Snapdragon chips for Android and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets. It even plans to continue investing in chips made for Windows RT, which is a mobile version of Windows 8 that runs on ARM-based chips and has been criticized for failing to produce a full Windows 8 experience (it can't run legacy apps).
"We've been investing quite a bit into both Windows Phone and Windows RT. We're one of Microsoft's partners," said Chandrasekher. "We're optimistic in the way we invest in the marketplace, we're cautious of the outlook in terms of what the revenues might look like."
Qualcomm said it plans to offer a 64-bit processor in the future to keep up with chip designs and even cut manufacturing costs, but there's no set release date, and Qualcomm doesn't seem worried about it. In fact, the company is looking ahead to wearable technology and is focusing on the needs to power such devices -- but it's more interested in smart watches, not "out there" devices like Google Glass.
"Google Glass, I'm not a huge fan of that," said Chandrasekher. "That's a little harder to predict if that will be successful."
Apple released the iPhone 5S last month alongside the "budget" iPhone 5C.
Source: TechWorld
A Qualcomm executive doesn't think Apple's new 64-bit A7 processor is a huge, necessary iPhone upgrade. In fact, he called it a "marketing gimmick."
Anand Chandrasekher -- senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Qualcomm -- said that Apple's 64-bit processor in the new iPhone 5S doesn't offer a big enough reason for consumers to upgrade.
"I know there's a lot of noise because Apple did [64-bit] on their A7," said Chandrasekher. "I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There's zero benefit a consumer gets from that.
"Predominantly... you need it for memory addressability beyond 4GB. That's it. You don't really need it for performance, and the kinds of applications that 64-bit get used in mostly are large, server-class applications."
One key advantage of a 64-bit processor is more memory addressability, but the iPhone 5S has only 1GB of DRAM.
Chandrasekher said 64-bit chips aren't "relevant" in today's smartphones or tablets. Many have even said that the processor in Apple's new iPhone can't be credited entirely for performance boosts in benchmark tests.
Qualcomm provides its Snapdragon chips for Android and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets. It even plans to continue investing in chips made for Windows RT, which is a mobile version of Windows 8 that runs on ARM-based chips and has been criticized for failing to produce a full Windows 8 experience (it can't run legacy apps).
"We've been investing quite a bit into both Windows Phone and Windows RT. We're one of Microsoft's partners," said Chandrasekher. "We're optimistic in the way we invest in the marketplace, we're cautious of the outlook in terms of what the revenues might look like."
Qualcomm said it plans to offer a 64-bit processor in the future to keep up with chip designs and even cut manufacturing costs, but there's no set release date, and Qualcomm doesn't seem worried about it. In fact, the company is looking ahead to wearable technology and is focusing on the needs to power such devices -- but it's more interested in smart watches, not "out there" devices like Google Glass.
"Google Glass, I'm not a huge fan of that," said Chandrasekher. "That's a little harder to predict if that will be successful."
Apple released the iPhone 5S last month alongside the "budget" iPhone 5C.
Source: TechWorld
No comments:
Post a Comment