ARM unveil super efficient Cortex A7, set to be paired with A15

Cortex A7 - super efficient chip set to be paired with A15.

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ARM has unveiled a new chip that is set to enable more efficient and affordable mobile processors. Cortex A7 is based on ARM's 28nm fabrication and reportedly consumes five times less power and measured just one-fifth the size of the 45nm Cortex A8, which is found inside Apple's A4, Samsung's Hummingbird and Texas Instruments' OMAP3.

ARM unveil super efficient Cortex A7, set to be paired with A15 | TweakTown.com

ARM will compliment the efficiency by pairing the Cortex A7 with quicker, more power hungry processing cores. The A7 is set to pave the way for sub-$100 smartphones, which will boost adoption rates in developing regions. ARM CEO, Warren East told the BBC:

We can see the developed world moving on and mobile being the nexus for all sort of consumer electronics. In the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) we are seeing catch-up. As we look forward these smartphones are going to be totally ubiquitous and in the much less developed areas...

ARM's "Big.LITTLE" design concept will see the Cortex A7 partnered with the upcoming Cortex A15 as a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will allocate tasks to the best available core. The A7 will deal with lighter loads while the A15 will handle more complicated tasks. Efficiency gains that were mentioned above are specifically limited to the A7, so its currently unclear what to expect from the whole package.

The A15 was announced last September and should ship in early 2012. It will sport varying clock speeds, up to 2.5GHz and is set to deliver 40-percent more performance than the current A9. Several licensees have already announced next-generation SoC's based on the A15, including NVIDIA's fourth-generation Tegra, "Wayne", Texas Instruments' OMAP 5 and ST-Ericsson's Nova A9600.

Samsung, LG and Apple will most likely use A15 processors, too.

NEWS SOURCE:techspot.com

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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