Apple’s launch of its 64-bit A7 processor has clearly turned up the heat on its competitors, even though there is still very little a mobile device can actually do with a 64-bit chip. Nonetheless, analysts invited to meet with Samsung this week were told that 64-bit Exynos chips are in the works. Samsung did not offer a time frame, but Asian sources are claiming that the Korean company will have 64-bit processors in its flagship phones by next year.
Qualcomm is also reportedly working on a 64-bit smartphone or tablet processor. Both Samsung and Qualcomm license chip architectures from ARM (as does Apple), so reports that ARM is working on 64-bit architectures through the Android Open Source Project are good indications that ARM’s customers are eager to license a 64-bit design.
Intel knows a bit about 64-bit chips, and plans to launch a 64-bit version of its Bay Trail processor next year. Intel is targeting both Android and the Windows OS, but that doesn’t mean that either of those will become a 64-bit operating system anytime soon. It just means that when the software moves to the next level, the hardware will be ready.
In other chip news this week….
Sales slide for Nvidia, but results beat expectations
Nvidia says sales for the quarter ending in October were down 12.5% from the year-ago quarter, while net income was down 43.2%. The maker of graphics processing units (GPUs) for mobile devices and gaming consoles earned $118.7 on revenue of $1.05 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter.
Nvidia is clearly feeling the heat from larger competitors like Qualcomm as it struggles to gain a foothold in the market for CPUs. But yesterday’s report is an improvement from last quarter, and Nvidia exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Shares are up more than 4% this morning.
Smart glasses for those who need them most
Freescale is powering an innovative eyeglass attachment that can process information for the visually impaired. The chipmaker is working with OrCam, an Israeli startup that has created a device which is attached to glasses and can use computer vision algorithms to interpret visual stimuli and communicate their meaning to the wearer.
The OrCam solution is powered by Freescale’s i.MX 6Quad applications processor. The processor integrates four ARM Cortex-A9 cores running up to 1.2 GHz. It allows execution of all processing algorithms and software speech codecs on a single chip.
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