Not one to take things sitting down, Samsung has just confirmed that their future smartphones will be running on 64-bit processors. This statement, made by Samsung mobile business chief Shin Jong-kyun, comes on the heels of Apple’s unveiling of its iPhone 5S.

Apple‘s latest high-end smartphone was revealed to be running on a new A7 processor, making the iPhone 5S the world’s first smartphone touting a 64-bit processor. As Apple and Samsung have become quite the sensational rivals, it is not surprising to hear of Samsung making claims for similar capabilities in its future devices. Even more interesting is the fact that the statement was made as Samsung attempts to expand into China, a market that Apple is also intent on winning over.

Not that Samsung lacks the muscle to accomplish the feat. The company just recently unveiled its latest accomplishment, bringing in Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) to its Exynos 5 Octa core ARM chips, beating out its rivals in that industry. Still, the biggest benefit of a 64-bit architecture is the capability to use 4 GB or more of RAM, and currently no ARM-based smartphone comes close to that, aside from Samsung’s own Galaxy Note III, which has 3 GB of RAM. Even Shin Jong-kyun said that it will happen “not in the shortest time”.

64-bit processors may be the next battle cry of future smartphone manufacturers, but without the right amount of RAM to fully utilize it, it might just be another meaningless trend on hardware spec sheets.

SOURCE: Korea Times
VIA: The Next Web

14 COMMENTS

  1. 64 bit processor just because Apple have announced it?
    they should spend more time refining TouchWiz, the biggest selling point of IOS is the simplicity of it to the average user. The Galaxy Note 3 is fantastic spec wise but how many people can honestly say they like the software?

    • I love the note 2 software, and millions of others apparently Think so too. The note 3 software looks even better, so definitely looking forward to that.

      There’s no other phone where you can be as productive as on a Note.

      • I like the note form factor more than I like the software. Productivity wise I agree with you , but simplicity for the average person? I think touchwiz is far too complicated and there are several areas which need to be refined.
        Matter of opinion really.
        Im weighing up if I should use my upgrade for the Note 3 or wait to see what HTC have up there sleeve…. Decisions Decisions…..

      • another note 2 user chipping in. I’m holding off for the Note 4, or something middle of next year. Although if they give us those new software features and the see through flip case, I’d be very happy.

        I think 64bit processing on a phone is a bit pointless right now, its just a new dimension on this whole Mhz/Core race,

        same with the fingerprint scanner, unless Corporations buy into the whole fingerprint security, all the corporate iphones out there will have this feature locked out/disabled (especially as it allows for multiple users fingerprints etc).

    • Cool thing about Android is you don’t have to stick with TouchWiz there are many other launchers on the play store. I not used TouchWiz on Android since I switched to Samsung from HTC always enjoyed Apex Launcher my self.

  2. 64bit processor are useless at the moment, i don’t even think Android is ready for that jump, so please Samsung, wait for Google to make 64bit officially available on AOSP before making jumping, we don’t want another Galaxy S with heavily customized kernels and system structure just get some extra features Google added months later officially.

    • I agree, I think Samsung would have been better off giving out a press release explaining why 64bit is redundant on a phone, and that they had no plans to add that additional complexity into what is already one of the fastest set of devices in the marketplace.

  3. I think that 64 bit and heterogenous computing, are good ideas, but we need to keep things compact, such as Chrome OS, 64 bit on the desktop made them bloatware, that customers frequently hated.

  4. First off, a 64 bit processor does absolutely nothing for you if the OS does not run as a 64 bit OS. Having said that, this article is a little off. Extra memory is a benefit, but I would argue that it’s meaningless for computers with 3 GB or less of RAM.

    A 64 bit OS and processor also means that the processor can take in 64 bits of data per clock cycle. Cryptography benefits significantly on a 64 bit OS and I would guess that once the Android OS supports the 64 bit architecture, having a 64 bit processor will improve performance on multiple levels regardless of having extra RAM or not.

  5. Both Apple and Samsung are getting their IP for their newest SoCs from ARM’s A-57. It’s 64-bit. It’s also the newest design and has some really good improvements over A-15.

    Apple and Samsung didn’t go 64-bit for either marketing or performance purposes. It’s more incidental than anything. It is helpful to get the ball rolling towards 64-bit though as future phones will eventually need it.

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