Samsung: our next-gen smartphones will have 64-bit chips, too

[Jos]

Apple is set to launch the first 64-bit mobile processor when the iPhone 5S hits the market September 20. While the immediate performance gains this will bring are debatable -- despite Cupertino’s marketing hyperbole -- Samsung doesn’t intend to stand idle as its arch rival gets the upper hand on the spec sheets.

Speaking to the Korea Times, the company’s mobile business chief JK Shin confirmed that their next generation smartphones will have 64-bit chips too. There was no specific time frame for the move except for noting that such devices would arrive "not in the shortest time.” Not that Samsung lacks the expertise for the task; after all, their semiconductor business is going strong and they’ve touted some advances of their own such as Heterogeneous Multi-Processing, which allows all eight cores in the Exynos 5 SoC to operate simultaneously.

Samsung could use the ARMv8 64-bit architecture that ARM has been promoting for a while -- the same Apple based its design off. But as things stand right now a 64 bit processor would be worthless to them without proper support on the operating system level. No current version of Android is 64 bit, and while it's assumed that Google will eventually make this happen, it likely won’t be available until some time next year.

Apple on the other hand has already reworked iOS 7 and all its native applications to run on the 64-bit A7 chip. During Tuesday’s event, the company promised the benefits would be “huge” as it explained the A7 is up to twice as fast as its predecessor in both CPU and GPU tasks, but in reality the two aren’t necessarily linked to each other -- at least not as Apple would have you believe. Looking at the move to 64-bit computing on the desktop, 64-bit designs don't automatically improve performance for most tasks, and can even have drawbacks.

The biggest benefit comes from the capability to accommodate more than 4GB of RAM, and currently no ARM-based smartphone comes close to that. The move is more about Apple laying the groundwork for the future, but it'll be a while before we enjoy all the benefits. I guess you could say the same thing about quad- and octa-core processors in mobile devices. That said, in the realm of smartphone marketing bigger numbers are always better, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see everyone racing to get 64-bit chips on their phones too.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/53979-samsung-our-next-gen-smartphones-will-have-64-bit-chips-too.html

 

[Jad Chaar]

There is no rush for 64bit because no phone will use more than 2GB with current OSes. Maybe as we get 4K smartphones we will need more than 2GB of RAM.

 

[EEatGDL]

They were just pushing flagship phones with 2GB and now they want to use 64-bit, for what exactly? Will Android become a new Windows that eats up to 2GB of RAM alone? Will we have Crysis 3 on Android or what? I'm more worried about it than glad -will they start just using RAM for nonsense and soon outdate all those devices with less RAM?

[Disclaimer: I'm not asking or expecting for Crysis 3 on Android, and I'm aware of the technical issues to overcome like recompiling using different APIs and instruction set between PC and mobile devices]

 

[VitalyT]

No Samsung, you ain't got it, so, just suck it in!

 

[Guest]

You people only think 64 bit is used for just memory?

Quit thinking you're smart...

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

The way Apple were touting the new 5S with 64 bit processing before the specs were officially released I was expecting something along the lines of an Ivy Bridge-E processor only a lot more powerful.

 

[VitalyT]

The way Apple were touting the new 5S with 64 bit processing before the specs were officially released I was expecting something along the lines of an Ivy Bridge-E processor only a lot more powerful.

No you didn't... And it confuses Guest accounts even more, they switch into thinking mode, and end up splashing their brain matter all over the board...

 

[Guest]

No, 64-bit is not just to support more than 4Gb of RAM. 64-bit architecture is a huge benefit whenever you work with large numbers or large chunks of data, because you can process twice as much in one CPU cycle instead of two. As a real life example of large numbers in life, take file size - these days it has to be stored in a 64-bit integer, to support files larger than 4Gb. And such examples are many. Large numbers are often used in databases (which are very often used by mobile applications, even without you realising that) for primary keys, and a 64-bit CPU would speed up lookup operations considerably. Also Apple increased number of registers, which allows for even greater optimisation. Of course, benefits of any hardware only appear when software supports it, but since Apple is responsible for the hardware, the OS AND the development tools, the benefits will be noticeable very soon. They have already reworked the OS and its core apps for 64-bit CPU, so it will all work faster by itself. I think it will not take a long time for developers to update their Xcode and re-compile their apps to support 64-bit, it's all they have to do, the compiler will optimise their code to use the new hardware capabilities for the best speed.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

There is no rush for 64bit because no phone will use more than 2GB with current OSes. Maybe as we get 4K smartphones we will need more than 2GB of RAM.

Let me ask what you would prefer to arrive on the scene first. The problem, or the solution to the problem? As some of the TechSpot staff would probably say it, "There is no practical need for this technology". You used word "rush" instead of "need" but the mindset is similar.

Do you want there to be a rush for it? Do you want to pay exorbitant prices for technology that is in high demand.Technology arriving on the scene in advance of a rush for it(or a high demand) will always allow the technology to mature and the cost to come down.

I'll probably be demonized again by some superhero trolling these forums speaking for those without a voice but my take on all of these technologies is let them come, let them come.

"Nobody Will Ever Need More Than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981"

I am not 100% sure about this but isn't Windows 8 Pro a 64-bit OS...doesn't it work on cellphone?

The fact alone that a technology exists sometimes is enough to increase the demand for it as well. In other words, "build it and they will come".

 

[Guest]

Win 8 PRO does not run on cellphones. ARM chips cannot run WIN 8 pro.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Win 8 PRO does not run on cellphones. ARM chips cannot run WIN 8 pro.

Okay, so there is no great demand for this technology at the moment but as I stated previously I believe that solutions arriving before the problem will be a win-win for the consumer. I would love to see 1TB blu-ray disc platters but they aren't here yet. May never be. So, because of this, they charge outrageous prices for BDXL discs and they are only 100/128GB. This is not a good situation for the consumer.

 

[windmill007]

64 bit rules. All other phones are out of date and behind the times.

 

[EEatGDL]

Of course "we people" know you can calculate bigger numbers, more precision, etc. What the h*ck would you be doing in a smartphone? Managing databases? ARM 64-bit for servers is fine, but for a smartphone? Come on. I'm not even sure those chips have FPU that can take advantage of the much needed higher floating point precision [more accurate decimals].

As the article states: supporting 64-bit environment doesn't guarantee performance, but it does guarantee more memory usage -just think about memory consumed by pointers and the incalculable amount of pointers apps may use and all at the same time; they would simply use double the amount of memory in all those declared pointers [not double the total memory used by the app].

 

[backo]

I think the 64-bit is an overkill. I do not see any actual benefit at the moment. But as always Apple knows best - their users will have the fastest 64-bit smartphone others will just have live with their useless HD displays.

 

[OneSpeed]

No Samsung, you ain't got it, so, just suck it in!

Uhm, that's ok. Samsung will continue making CPU's for Apple, and when/if the market really needs 64 bit computing on the phones, Samsung and everyone else will have one. Until then, keep coming back to the posts and look for 64 bits of angry birds.

 

[insect]

Considering this is the only technical specification that is better than most other flagship smartphones on the market, Apple hardware engineers still lose... but their marketing/fan-boys/general public ignorance will win the day for them.

Samsung finally started winning the war when they stopped marketing specifications and start marketing gimics/peer-pressure type ads. Even so, they do actually have and have always had better specs than iPhones.

 

[Guest]

Waiting for 128 bit, come on, bring it on.

 

[Lionvibez]

No, 64-bit is not just to support more than 4Gb of RAM. 64-bit architecture is a huge benefit whenever you work with large numbers or large chunks of data, because you can process twice as much in one CPU cycle instead of two. As a real life example of large numbers in life, take file size - these days it has to be stored in a 64-bit integer, to support files larger than 4Gb. And such examples are many. Large numbers are often used in databases (which are very often used by mobile applications, even without you realising that) for primary keys, and a 64-bit CPU would speed up lookup operations considerably. Also Apple increased number of registers, which allows for even greater optimisation. Of course, benefits of any hardware only appear when software supports it, but since Apple is responsible for the hardware, the OS AND the development tools, the benefits will be noticeable very soon. They have already reworked the OS and its core apps for 64-bit CPU, so it will all work faster by itself. I think it will not take a long time for developers to update their Xcode and re-compile their apps to support 64-bit, it's all they have to do, the compiler will optimise their code to use the new hardware capabilities for the best speed.

Hey guest thats all great on a desktop computer.

But who the hell is working on 4GB+ files and large data sets on a 4 inch Iphone?

64bit on cell phone will be the same as it was when it came out on computers at the start there will only be small benefit and as time goes on it will increase but its not going to make your phone 100% faster no matter what the marketing slides show you.


Stop drinking apple juice dude.

 

[Jad Chaar]

You people only think 64 bit is used for just memory?

Quit thinking you're smart...

I was just talking about memory because it was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard/read "64bit". It doesnt mean I does mean I do not know what other advantages it offers. Think before you comment.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Technology arriving on the scene in advance of a rush for it(or a high demand) will always allow the technology to mature and the cost to come down.

Well said man. I completely agree.

 

[backo]

Hey guest thats all great on a desktop computer.

But who the hell is working on 4GB+ files and large data sets on a 4 inch Iphone?

64bit on cell phone will be the same as it was when it came out on computers at the start there will only be small benefit and as time goes on it will increase but its not going to make your phone 100% faster no matter what the marketing slides show you.


Stop drinking apple juice dude.

Hey I work with 4 GB files on my phone all the time all 4, 8 or 16 of them and can't wait to start working with 5 GB files... well all 3, 6 or 12 of them :-D

 

[Guest]

64bit phones.... most useless feature yet. Heck more than 90% of PC games aren't even using the 64bit architecture. I also have no idea why a phone user would need over 4gb of ram. Heck none of them even know what 64bit is in the first place.

 

[MrBungle]

"Nobody Will Ever Need More Than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981"

Gates never said that, it's an internet rumor that has no basis in reality.

 

[Lionvibez]

Hey I work with 4 GB files on my phone all the time all 4, 8 or 16 of them and can't wait to start working with 5 GB files... well all 3, 6 or 12 of them :-D

And may I ask what phone you have and its current storage capacity including any SD cards?

 

[TheBigFatClown]

"Nobody Will Ever Need More Than 640k RAM!" -- Bill Gates, 1981"

Gates never said that, it's an internet rumor that has no basis in reality.

Okay. +1 for you. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't but I see this kind of statement made by other people all the time. So, there is something to be learned from it. Just because you don't need it today doesn't mean you won't need it tomorrow. Yet people continue to make the same statements about technology. I think some people can't look any further than 2 weeks into the future.