Chip design licensing company ARM has unveiled its 64-bit Cortex-A35 aimed to upgrade power and efficiency in entry-level smartphones.
The introduction of this newest chip on Tuesday, Nov. 10, is deemed part of the company's effort to remain on top of the mobile computing market.
Ian Smythe, currently the director of marketing programs at ARM's CPU Group, says that the Cortex-A35 is designed for low-cost smartphones. These smartphones are presently being served by the Cortex-A5 and Cortex-A7 processor designs.
In comparison with Cortex-A7, ARM touts this new chip offers an average of 20 percent better performance, depending on the application.
"Cortex-A35 is the natural successor to the compact-footprint Cortex-A7, the leading energy-efficient processor, which has powered more than a billion smartphones and tablets," says James McNiven, the general manager of CPU group.
He adds that with the unveiling of the Cortex-A35, which he calls the most efficient 64-bit capable mobile processor, the company and its partners will soon bring in perks that this mobile has in store to the "next billion smartphone users and beyond."
ARM notes this new chip, based on the ARMv8 architecture, is specifically targeted to fast-growing markets, including Brazil, India and China.
It is worth pointing out that at the moment, the ARMv8 architecture is already incorporated in chips like Qualcomm's Snapdragon line, which include the new Snapdragon 820 and Apple's A7, A8 and A9 processors. This suggests that the ARMv8 architecture is currently employed in high-end devices such as the iPhone 6s.
ARM is touting that its new processor architecture will lend 10 percent lower power consumption and with a six to 40 percent performance uplift.
ARM anticipates the first devices housing the A35 will arrive at the end of 2016.
In the meantime, the company says it has shipped more than two billion smartphones using the low-cost Cortex-A5 and A7 designs.
It is also important to note that ARM does not build its own chips. It licenses designs to companies. There are two types of licenses, a processor and architectural one. Samsung and Apple take an architectural license. This implies these two companies take the basic ARM architecture and they design their own chips.
