“When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5s on Tuesday, the company touted as one of its tentpole features the 64-bit desktop-class processing power of its new custom-made A7 chip. ‘The A7 is up to twice as fast as the previous-generation system at CPU tasks,’ Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller said. ‘This is the first-ever 64-bit processor in a phone of any kind. I don’t think the other guys are even talking about it yet,'” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD. “According to Schiller, the A7 is ‘up to twice as fast’ in raw processing power and graphics performance than its predecessor, the A6. And when paired with Apple’s forthcoming iOS 7 operating system — which has been designed with native 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers — it provides unparalleled performance. ‘The benefits are huge,’ Schiller said. ‘This is a huge leap forward.'”
“64 bit integer math will allow the A7 to execute operations much faster than the 32-bit A6. ‘The fact that the A7 has twice as many processor registers means that more operations can occur without the processor using main memory, which is slower to access,’ Carl Howe, VP of research and data sciences at the Yankee Group told AllThingsD,” Paczkowski reports. “‘This means for that, for some codes, the A7 will be twice as fast (or faster, depending on how many memory accesses the original code had) to run code, because the processor doesn’t have to use main memory as much.’ This should also improve battery life, as well.”
Paczkowski reports, “‘Because Apple makes the development environment and has updated those tools for 64-bit architectures, a developer only really needs to recompile their application to make it 64-bit compatible — assuming they haven’t done anything non-standard with their code,’ said Howe. ‘This will not be true with Android, by the way. The Android Java app and native app environment will need support from Oracle, who owns the Java environment as well as 64-bit support from the Android kernel. Android has a lot more moving pieces to coordinate, and will take longer to go to 64-bit.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is killing Android bit by bit.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MotivDev” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Samsung: Uh, someday our phones will have 64-bit processors, too – September 12, 2013
Hands on with the new 64-bit A7-powered iPhone 5s with new M7, camera features & Touch ID – September 12, 2013
Apple increases iPhone 5c and 5s battery sizes relative to iPhone 5 – September 12, 2013
Apple changes the world again, propels biometrics into the mainstream with iPhone 5s’ Touch ID – September 12, 2013
The world’s first 64-bit smartphone is just the beginning, Apple’s A7 chip paves the way for Apple’s long-term future – September 11, 2013
Apple reveals flagship iPhone 5s with Touch ID, the world’s first and only 64-bit smartphone – September 10, 2013
Apple unveils iPhone 5C; pre-order September 13th, on sale September 20th – September 10, 2013
Apple to release iOS 7 with completely redesigned user interface on September 18 – September 10, 2013
Android will try all it can to copy it .
Yes, but not this year! Maybe next.
Great job Apple development team!!!
YEs YES hear hear! congratulations Apple Team!!!
As Steve would say: “Boom!”
Sansung is already “trying” ..
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/12/samsung-64-bit-cpu/
Of course that is very idiot from sansung to say that since they don’t control the OS, so no matter how many bits their processor has, just as the 4 or 8 cores CPUs they are trying to pull out, is useless with out a OS that can handle that many cores or data paths.
Cue the rumors and speculation.
A diamond, glued onto the snout of a pig. Woopee Wow Samsung.
Samsung mist be going insane for plans to innovate a 64 bit processor that is marketable in the next phone/tablet!
Who is making the A7 chip? Is Samsung involved?
Check out the article Troy has linked above.
Samsung licenses ARM technology, which means they have access to the 64-bit ARM architecture. So it could happen.
The A7, however, is Apple’s OWN CPU, which incorporates ARM technology. As we learned at the presentation, Apple added more than frills to the ARM technology, stuff that Samsung has NO (legal) access to, so boohoo on them.
Then add on the dialog above about Android NOT being capable of 64-bit technology, making it a dead dog in a mud puddle regarding Samsung’s hopes and dreams of catching up. They can’t, UNLESS they dump Android and 64-bit update the vaporware OS they keep chattering about but never release to the public, whatever it’s called. Tizen?
To quote Steve Jobs quoting Alan Kay: People who are serious about software should make their own hardware.
R.I.P. Android
Hear Hear!!
And Here Here! As Well!
Screw resting in peace. I want Android to burn in hell.
Unfortunately it won’t really matter to the casual Android user. I know many of them. They don’t use the full potential of their phone let alone need additional power. They dont even KNOW what their phone can do. I have rarely ever see any of them even open the web browser. It’s just being used for texting and a regular ole phone. It’s not their fault really, they’re used to their old flip phone and got an android phone cause it was pushed on them when getting a new one.
Think before you post. Everything is faster whether it’s taking a photo, looking at your mail, rendering a web page, playing a video, etc. all while using less power. Speed always kills.
The point is they don’t care. And if you would have comprehended what I posted above, all they do is text and use it as a phone. You may want to take your own advice.
The casual Android user doesn’t buy a Smartphone. They buy a cheap, low profit, feature phone. The point is they don’t care.
Neither does Apple. They don’t make cheap, low profit, feature phones.
True. But the funny thing is, just like MS and their partners, Android makers are always touting specs.
My mom has an android phone, she wanted me to stop to show me something, I told her take a picture and send it over a text message, she ended up learning something new that she hasn’t learned completely or used again.
Yes, but the problem is that Android is so fragmented, on so many phones that even if Samstung came out with a 64bit processor next year, changing android to keep up will not filter down well to all those other devices. This just increases the fragmentation. Apple has far fewer wrinkles to contend with. And don’t forget the huge upside that Apple has by bringing iOS and OS-X closer together. Samstung has no such partner to marry up with. Android is an “old maid”. Who does she get closer too? Microsoft? Show me how Android getting closer to Windows 8 is possible. What other operating system is warming up in the wings waiting for Android? Is there a PC version of Android? I have yet to see one if there is. I have seen linux computers, but never an Android one….
Forget the hardware, Samscum will never get the 64 bit native software to match and dovetail like iOS7does.
Once again, another un seamless integration of jerk coming to an android near you.
What about TizenOS?
I speculated above that Samsung COULD update Tizen to 64-bit. But you have to notice that Tizen remains vaporware. Even scuzzy Samsung dare not let it out the door. So what are the chances it has any ability to replace Android AND become 64-bit? Zero IMHO. Samsung is NOT happy today. So sad for them boohoo. 😛
One problem with Tizen: Who’s going to bother making apps for it? Essentially Samsung stabbed themselves in the back by making Android their prime OS. It locked them into Android apps. Therefore, what’s even the point of Tizen? It will flop even worse than Microsoft’s Phone OS, which itself has a severe case of App-Lack.
Samsung will release a 64 bit phone. They won’t care that the OS and software will still be 32 bit. Samsung will get to claim a 64 bit phone and buyers will be ignorant it will make no difference because the software will still be 32 bit. It’s all about marketing perception.
Well, marketing perception (more like marketing PENETRATION to me, as in, well you know…) can only go so far. You can herd the sheep and they’ll eat the grass. But if the grass gives them BLOAT, they’re not going to go back and eat it a second time.
IOW: Crapware creates its own karma.
IOW: Marketing crapware creates its own karma. Which is precisely why I call marketing-morons ‘self-destructive’. Their dirty deeds will eat them alive.
I get it – bit by bit. Good one.
The stuff that apple does in terms of innovation really paves the way for the whole industry. It might not ways be splashy or sexy but can be way more important than a larger screen size.
We all know apple plan five years ahead. It’s amazing to think this was on the schedule even as they were releasing the first iPhone.
When the first Osx beta came out I knew apple had sometime special. iOS is in the same vein. It could well end up as the dominant os period and exist on devices and pcs alike.
Yeah, I’m surprised I had to scroll down this far to find someone commenting on the MDN take – very sly. That said, MDN needs to add a “bada bump” to it.
What company is currently making the A7 chip? If it happens to be samdung they will just steal the chip.
That’s what I was thinking. If Shamdung is the foundry they will already know how to make them and being shameless about copying won’t stop at anything to make them.They have already announced their intention to make 64 bit phones to match Apple. Of course Android will have to be rewritten by Google to make this work. Sounds like a good time to flip to Tizen for Samessong.
Sounds like a good time to flip to Tizen for Samessong.
I VERY seriously doubt it, as I covered at length in the comments above. Tizen could be a curse for ScamStung at this point. Go read my comments above to understand why.
Technically, APPLE make the A7. It is APPLE’S tech, added to the ARM 64-bit technology. Whoever manufactures it for them is, again technically, irrelevant.
But yes, Apple has been using Samsung’s factories to manufacture the A7. And NO, that does not mean Samsung can use Apple’s technology in their own chips, not with out being sued into the ground. Samsung has to start from scratch with their licensed ARM 64-bit technology and figure out the rest on their own, just as Apple did.
Actually it is ARM 64-bit tech tweaked by Apple (tweaks patented) that resulted in the last few Ax processors leading up to the present. Thus they can be manufactured by anyone with varying levels of success due to each foundries’ own patented manufacturing technologies. One of the reasons Apple continues to deal with Samsung for producing the chips is that they have the best yield if not necessarily the best tech. Though I wonder if they really will start at the same point considering they’ve been putting a lot more time and money into researching than Apple does. In either case what is occurring is similar to the advances a modeler gets by using Lego ™ and modeling tools to make their ‘new’ toy.
A big HUH?
1) I clearly pointed out, and anyone can verify at Apple’s website, that Apple has NOT merely used the ARM 64-bit architecture. Apple PATENT what they invent and add to the A series CPU.
Therefore, NO, Samsung can’t make the A7 CPU. Got that?
2) Throwing money at R&D has NOTHING to do with the success of R&D. Here are a couple reasons why:
(A) If you don’t have inventive people with specific skill in the area of interest, you get no invention.
(B) If you have a Marketing-As-Management horror situation, the inventive people within any company are DEMORALIZED and no longer invent.
Great examples: Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, General Electric….
Yes, Samsung comes up with some original ideas. But they are so dire bereft of inventive people that they are literally FORCED to ripoff Apple and other companies for their ideas in order to even pretend to be wannabes. Got that?
3) Modern invention that attempts to use the Lego™ model concept consistently FAILs. Current code systems are incapable of working successfully with Objective Oriented Programming. OOP has turned out to be just another “OOPs!” This fact is proven every single day. One only need look at software security flaws to notice the catastrophe of OOP. Therefore, forget about any Lego concepts applied to contemporary coding.
Object hardware construction CAN work, as long as extremely stringent standards are created and used. One can look at the ridiculous MESS of the PC ‘standard’ to notice how easy it is do make NON-standard hardware. On the Android ‘standard platform’ this mess is called “fragmentation”. It isn’t necessarily that a hardware maker doesn’t want to provide an Android update to their devices. Instead, typically these companies CANNOT provide an Android update specifically because their hardware is NOT compatible with Android updates. This same mess continues to be common in the PC market.
IOW: So much for object oriented ANYTHING at this point in time. Diversity rulz. Sticking to standards, or even adequate standards, RARELY happens. Etc. Blahblahblah. This is an extremely old story. Maybe some day we’ll get over it. But not yet.
I’m not seeing why 64 bit will make “codes faster” and access to main memory quicker. If anything, all the code and memory will be using twice as much space for 64 bit instructions thus slowing down main memory and using more space. Of course, if an app uses a lot of 64 bit arithmetic, then fine, but the typical app does not. So at this point I think its a lot of fluff and marketing.
It does not make access to main memory quicker. It reduces the need to access main memory as often.
Most of the size of iOS programs is in the Graphics.
Building a universal app will not make That much of a difference.
Why should Android devices have any problems keeping up with Apple’s ARM processors? Don’t most Android manufacturers depend on NVIDIA to do all the heavy lifting? NVIDIA supports the whole Android ecosystem so they have a massive economy of scale. It’s probably less expensive for Android device vendors to use standardized NVIDIA Tegra processors than it is for Apple to design their own A-type processors. It seems to me that the whole Android platform isn’t even breaking a sweat by using the latest and greatest hardware and that’s why it’s claimed Apple has fallen behind in the hardware department. I don’t know if this is true, it’s only what I’ve seen written. Android devices are already using quad-core processors that are being clocked up to nearly 2.0 GHz. Every few months some company cranks them up even higher to get an advantage in the constant Android spec race.
Samsung is going to use the Exynos 5 Octa chip with big.Little architecture in the Galaxy S5 which is claimed to put Apple’s A7 processor to shame. Samsung is willing to spend huge amounts of money to beat anything Apple has because that’s how Samsung operates. Samsung is not concerned about huge profits per se, just large market share and leaving rivals in the dust. This is the reason why the tech industry yawns when Apple announces a new product. It’s because Apple products are no longer seen as cutting edge compared to Android products.
I’m an Apple loyalist and shareholder, but I’m not blind to facts. Android vendors have no choice but to keep pushing the outer limits of hardware to stay ahead of each other.
Android vendors can fight it out for the customers who buy according to spec sheet and those who buy according to price. Apple will continue to do what they have done for decades: sell boat loads of mid- to high-end gear with healthy margins and rake in the profits.
In addition, significantly more Android buyers will switch to iOS for their next device than the other way around.
Apple loyalist? Why do support Samsung so much??
A 64 bit processor is far superior than any 32 bit processor no matter your Android foolishness.
Well, that would only remain true as long as you are comparing the same number of cores.. I would wager a single core 64-bit cpu would be hard put to compete with a dual/quad-core 32 bit cpu.
You’re an “Apple loyalist”, yeah…and I’m Ballmer’s wife.
This could be why Sammy is making Tizen. They know Google will not have 64 bit code for a long time. Apple learned a lot from the Mac, and Win, transition to 64bit. I think the iOS will be quicker then people think. You need a 64bit computer to upgrade apps from 32. With the Mac they were expensive so it took developers a long time to catch up; even for Apple. With iOS developers already have a 64bit machine.
Actually you don’t need a 64-bit machine to PRODUCE 64-bit executables, only to run them. There is a LONG history of cross-compilers that have compiled code that would never run on the host machine natively.
The good news: no more SameSong phones anytime soon, because they have promised their next would have 64-bit processors:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/13/samsung_apple_64_bit/
🙂
What make you think it will take Samsung much time to release a 64-bit processor phone? Historically, they seem to be VERY quick on their feet seeing as it took only a couple years to rise to the top of a LOT of competitors. I’d say 8 months tops for a ‘better’ 64-bit package. As for Android Apps supporting 64-bit, the huge majority will probably never need to be recompiled since the layer that sits between (Dalvik) will be the only pat that needs to be upgraded to 64 bit. There has been mention elsewhere that there is a lack of Android Apps using ONLY the latest version (4.x) I would understand that would be a problem for iOS. Android presently includes support libraries for previous versions to make use of the ‘newer’ APIs introduced in 4.x making the point of a severe lack rather moot.
iOS and Android are taking different paths to support advances in their HW and there are pros and cons to each approach which each camp spins to make the other look less competent. Looking forward to continued high level competition from all parties involved. 😀
FYI the processors are always twice as fast. The media and Apple lovers try there best to enhance apple products acting like they get it for free
Well, you should tell the Samsung guys, then, that this is all marketing…
XCode is Fabulous. 🙂 🙂 🙂
“The Android Java app and native app environment will need support from Oracle….”
If I’m reading this right, and I have any inkling about what Larry might do, I’d fully suspect Oracle ain’t going to give Google a pair of fetid dingo’s kidneys after the way Google got away with their IP theft of java.
Any upgrades to Android Java will have to wait until after the America’s Cup races are over. In the finals, Emirates Team New Zealand is handing Oracle’s behind to it on a silver platter.
Knowing Samsung they will make statements that 64bit doesn’t add that much speed and the Motion coprocessor will drain the battery faster. The Samsung 8 inch phone last 20x longer. IN a few weeks, Samsung will announce the new 128 Bit Duo Graphic Coprocessor…available next year…maybe…but its coming so don’t buy Apple stuff…(MS Playbook)
Mark my word … The day will come when your iPhone can power a large monitor & a BT keyboard be used to enter data.
The only way a company can do that is to control the ENTIRE software, hardware, cloud ecosystem. Apple has it. You see it.
BoC,
I agree and saw that coming a long time ago. Think about business travelers. Check into the hotel with the BT keyboard and hi-def tv and your are in business with your iPhone.
I believe Jobs had a long term plan that the Apple team is implementing and adapting as they go. They have it all and the competitors will wake up in the morning and find themselves totally screwed.
I forgot, the phone itself becomes the trackpad.
Very nice.