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Qualcomm Marketing Executive Calls Apple's 64-Bit A7 Chip a 'Marketing Gimmick'

iGrip said:
Somebody has to be first with a 64 bit chip, and it was Apple. Sure, it may be of limited benefit now, but eventually it will be a significant development. The software will come, as will the necessary RAM.
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That's one nice thing about Apple designing the hardware and software. They were ready for it.

Other manufacturers may have thought about putting 64bit processors in their phones... but they'd have to wait for Google to update Android to take advantage of it.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Since it's quad core it should have been:

fap fap fap fap
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Actually:

1). 2). 3). 4).
Fap. Fap. Fap. Fap.
Fap. Fap. Fap. Fap.
Fap. Fap. Fap. Fap.
Fap. Fap. Fap. Fap.

While Apple just:

1). 2).
FapFapFapFaps. FapFapFapFaps.
FapFapFapFaps. FapFapFapFaps.

...along. Lol. :cool:
 
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Michael Scrip said:
Other manufacturers may have thought about putting 64bit processors in their phones... but they'd have to wait for Google to update Android to take advantage of it.
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Why would they have to wait for Google? You mean to optimize the JVM itself for 64 bits? Couldn't they do that themselves?

Interestingly, others have pointed out that C code recompiled for 64 bit will probably grow in size, since pointers probably have to be 64 bit as well. Unless there's a paging mode or something. Anyone know? Haven't kept up with compilers and ARMs.

.
 
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theheadguy said:
Name one way the iPhone 5S experience is improved by being 64-bit instead of 32.
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I recompiled one of my compute intensive apps for arm64, and it benchmarks 12% to 30% faster than when compiled in 32-bit/armv7s mode for the same iPhone 5s. And the arm64 binary component (using the lipo -detailed_info command) is only 16% bigger. Altogether, for some of my calculations, they run over 3X faster in 64-bit mode on an iPhone 5s than in 32-bit mode on last years iPhone 5. Not bad for an "incremental" annual phone upgrade. :p

Note also that faster code finishes faster, so even if an app isn't compute intensive, it will allow the CPU to go into power-save mode sooner, and thus help extend the users battery life.
 
Most third-party video apps are quite CPU intensive doing their software decoding. 64-bit instructions and additional registers make significant difference for those software decoders.
 
Reminds me of RIM/BlackBerry "toy" comment when the iPhone came out.

Watch his CPU loose market share while he still thinks its a gimmick.
 
Jordan needs to stop posting articles. If you knew how to write you would start with the incredibly obvious, factual PROOF that 64 bit is demonstrably beneficial to many developers and consequently the consumer directly, THEN go on to show how much of an idiotic attempt at getting free viral press this statement is ... To which you have just contributed. Other bloggers and "news" outlets will not finish your poorly organized article and make it half way trough and then quote your quote of a quote and amplify the reach of this embarrassing misinformation and clear marketing gimmick itself.

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firewood said:
I recompiled one of my compute intensive apps for arm64, and it benchmarks 12% to 30% faster than when compiled in 32-bit/armv7s mode for the same iPhone 5s. And the arm64 binary component (using the lipo -detailed_info command) is only 16% bigger. Altogether, for some of my calculations, they run over 3X faster in 64-bit mode on an iPhone 5s than in 32-bit mode on last years iPhone 5. Not bad for an "incremental" annual phone upgrade. :p

Note also that faster code finishes faster, so even if an app isn't compute intensive, it will allow the CPU to go into power-save mode sooner, and thus help extend the users battery life.
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Thank you! Both of these paragraphs are incredibly helpful insight.
 
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firewood said:
Altogether, for some of my calculations, they run over 3X faster in 64-bit mode on an iPhone 5s than in 32-bit mode on last years iPhone 5. Not bad for an "incremental" annual phone upgrade. :p
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We already know the A7 is a good deal faster than the A6, which you're proving here. The real test would be how much faster a 64-bit app vs. a 32-bit one is on the 5S.
 
They are just upset they cut back on their die design budget and now they are paying for it. In other news, yet another Qualcom executive is upset he didn't get his first choice of date for the Senior Prom.

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Michael Scrip said:
That's one nice thing about Apple designing the hardware and software. They were ready for it.

Other manufacturers may have thought about putting 64bit processors in their phones... but they'd have to wait for Google to update Android to take advantage of it.
Click to expand...

And that my friend is the advantage of having home grown engineering.
 
kdarling said:
Why would they have to wait for Google? You mean to optimize the JVM itself for 64 bits? Couldn't they do that themselves?

Interestingly, others have pointed out that C code recompiled for 64 bit will probably grow in size, since pointers probably have to be 64 bit as well. Unless there's a paging mode or something. Anyone know? Haven't kept up with compilers and ARMs.

.
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Because, I think, Android doesn't support 64-bit atm. Hence, putting a 64-bit processor is useless. And, Android uses Dalvik virtual machine instead of Java virtual machine.
 
ftaok said:
OK, could Apple have gotten these performance gains just by changing the pipeline and architecture on a 32-bit chip? Or did the chip have to be 64-bit to benefit from these changes?

Serious question as I'm not a Computer Engineer.
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You don't waste the time designing these features into a newer CPU instruction set unless it has a very long life (as billions eventually get invested into compilers, OSes, tools, and apps for it). 32-bits is too near end-of-life for flagship smartphones, as everybody will want more than 8x more RAM in less than a decade.
 
lukarak said:
The grapes are sour, said the fox :D
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Unrelated to the subject but I find it quite interesting!! We say the same in Albania "the fox and the sour grapes" when someone makes an odd comment about something he/she can not reach but is jealous about it! Most be universal thing!
 
technowar said:
Because, I think, Android doesn't support 64-bit atm. Hence, putting a 64-bit processor is useless. And, Android uses Dalvik virtual machine instead of Java virtual machine.
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It kinda does. It's built on top of Linux, which has a 64-bit kernel readily available and all kinds of libraries to go along with it. All Google has to do is compile all the Android specific stuff to 64-bit, tweak it a bit, and it's ready to go.

I'd be kinda surprised if Google didn't have a 64-bit rev waiting in the wings already.
 
Turning a disadvantage to your advantage

Switching to 64bit for iOS it's slightly more complicated than for other platforms because all app code must be recompiled for the new instruction set.
Apple clearly sees this as a disadvantage with hundred of thousands of apps in the store, they simply couldn't come second in the 64bit upgrade because they hold the biggest code base.

Then of course looks it good presenting a 64bit CPU in the top of the range product :)
 
SlCKB0Y said:
So how much media transcoding and compression tasks are you doing on your iPhone? :rolleyes:

Wow, this whole thread is a pretty hard core display of a collective failure to grasp even basic computer science principles. What's even worse is that you all feel the need to come here and publicly display this ignorance like it was something to be proud of.

Given all the tasks that are off loaded to the GPU these days, the single major factor in adoption of 64bit CPU by a long way is addressable memory. Android Phones will hit the 4GB limit very soon, Apple will not for a number of years if they continue at the current rate of RAM increases.

Besides all this, when Android goes 64bit, the only applications which will need to be ported are those using the NDK. Apps which exclusively use Java (Dalvik) will just run without change as soon as Dalvik is ported. On iOS, each of those million apps needs to be updated - a major benefit of Android.

This same hardware abstraction that means most Android apps will "just work" once Dalvik is ported to 64bit is the same reason why they tend to have higher resource requirements - a characteristic that Apple fans have been harping on about for years but it would now seem as if the shoe is on the other foot now no?
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There's plently of software that could pin ANY CPU simply by piling up effect plug-ins or software synths and seeing as Propellerhead have already started porting Reason devices like THOR to iOS and there's plenty of Apps from Native Instruments and other companies too. It's only a matter of time before even more complex audio software comes out for iOS that's more than just a General Midi sequencer or stand alone single instrument. You only need to see the plug-in count difference on 32bit vs 64bit software on Macs and PCs to KNOW it's making a difference. Before you harp on about the GPU somehow handling all that, look into OpenCL and look how little audio software is even using it on desktops yet. I noticed immediately how much snappier Mountain Lion was then Snow Leopard. It can't be because of the 64bit code could it? Nah, that would be too obvious.
 
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kdarling said:
Why would they have to wait for Google? You mean to optimize the JVM itself for 64 bits? Couldn't they do that themselves?

Interestingly, others have pointed out that C code recompiled for 64 bit will probably grow in size, since pointers probably have to be 64 bit as well. Unless there's a paging mode or something. Anyone know? Haven't kept up with compilers and ARMs.
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All I'm saying is... manufacturers could have some amazing things in mind for their future phones... but they rely on the OS from some other company.

It would be nice to put some cool new features in at the system OS level.

Instead... we get bolt-ons like TouchWiz from Samsung on top of Android from Google.

It's nice that Apple designs the hardware and the software... not many companies are doing that anymore.
 
theheadguy said:
Name one way the iPhone 5S experience is improved by being 64-bit instead of 32.
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That's easy. As a fanboi I like to tell my friends about my 64bit phone. That makes me feel large and therefore improves the experience. Any other questions? :apple:
 
please take the time to read the full interview article. macrumors did a hack job that is purposely stirring up controversy. If u read what the guy actually said its no where near that bad.
 
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