Apple's 64-bit A7 processor a 'marketing gimmick', says Qualcomm executive

Apple's 64-bit A7 processor a 'marketing gimmick', says Qualcomm executive

One of the biggest selling points of Apple’s recently launched iPhone 5s is the 64-bit A7 processor under the hood. The feature, though, may be more of a marketing stunt and might not amount to any immediate benefits for smartphone users, according to what a Qualcomm executive has said to TechWorld. In an interview with the source, Anand Chandrasekher, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Qualcomm said that, “I know there’s a lot of noise because Apple put a 64-bit chip on their A7. I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There’s zero benefit a consumer gets from that.”The executive, rationalising his argument, said that the benefit of having a 64-bit chip is having more memory addressability, but that does not really help today’s smartphones or tablets, including the iPhone 5s, which comes with 1GB of RAM. While talking about this, Chandrasekher said, “Predominantly, you need it from memory addressability beyond 4GB. That’s it. You don’t really need it for performance, and the kinds of applications that 64-bit get used in mostly are large, server-class applications.”

Apple's A7 processor could be a marketing gimmick (Image credit: imore.com)

The iPhone 5s is the first smartphone to come with a 64-bit chip, and is almost a year ahead of its Android smartphone rivals, according to the source. While 64-bit ARMv8 processors were first introduced in 2011, according to MacRumours, Apple's A7 is the first time a 64-bit ARM chip has been released commercially. The Qualcomm executive, though, did confirm that the chip set manufacturer was also looking at coming up with a 64-bit mobile chip. The difference, according to him, is that the new chipset will be positioned for engineering, chip design and OSes purposes, as opposed to being a consumer-driven feature. This basically means that it will be developers, and not consumers, who could benefit from the mobile chip. While talking about this point, Chandrasekher said, "From an engineering efficiency standpoint it just makes sense to go do that. Particularly the OS guys will want it at some point in time." The executive refrained from giving a time frame for when the company’s 64-bit chip will be introduced, though. Qualcomm is not the only company which is looking at coming up with a new mobile chipset. South Korean smartphone manufacturer Samsung has also said that it will integrate a new 64-bit chip to its upcoming smartphone line-up.

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