Apple has the Lead
The reason why Apple SoCs have faster CPUs than its Qualcomm counterparts is due to
a couple of reasons. Apple can design its own SoCs from scratch due to the architectural
license it holds with the ARM. The world’s first 64-bit in-house ARM processor was also
manufactured by Apple in 2013 and was named the A7 (APL0698). A7 chip was the one that
powered the iPhone 5S which released in September,2013. From the raw clock speeds of
the SDM845 (shown in the table), it should be faster or have to have at least a similar CPU
performance compared to the A12 Bionic chip. In practice, the A12 Bionic outperform the
SDM845 (According to GeekBench 4 Scores). In the year Qualcomm introduced their first 64-
bit SoC (Snapdragon 820 in 2015), Apple announced their 3rd generation of 64-bit SoC with
the iPhone 6S. So, one reason for Apple's dominance can be accounted by its head start in the
64-bit processor race. Another reason is equipping its CPUs with a larger cache size and larger
die size compared to the Qualcomm’s offerings.
ARM-powered PCs.
ARM-powered non-smartphone devices are also beginning to emerge slowly. Vendors who
are shipping Windows Laptops that are powered by ARM processors include HP, ASUS,
and Lenovo. Initially, these laptops have shipped with the Snapdragon 835 (which was the
predecessor of SDM845). Then, Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon 850 chip (which was
designed for laptops and based on an overclocked SDM845 SoC). The Qualcomm Snapdragon
1000 series is said to be the successor to the Snapdragon 850 SoC. One advantage of these
ARM powered chipsets in a laptop environment is that their industry-leading power efficiency.
They also have a smaller and lighter footprint. Moreover, they enable the possibility of having
always-connected devices. (since they already have an integrated LTE chip). Even though they
are relatively slower than their Intel counterparts, they compensate it by offering around 20
hours of continuous usability in a typical laptop PC per a full charge.
Conclusion & Summary
The Processing units in Smartphones are different from their PC counterparts since they use
a SoC instead of a standalone CPU. Smartphones use RISC SoCs. The ARM is its architectural
designing powerhouse. Companies like Qualcomm and Apple buy licenses for the designing
architectures from the ARM. Then, they design their own SoCs using the original ARM design
architectures. Snapdragon is a SoC series by Qualcomm and Apple has the 'A series' of SoCs
to compete with it. They are two of the leading SoC producers. From a 'raw CPU power'
perspective, Apple is the leading company. Meanwhile, in the Android universe, Qualcomm
powered SoCs delivers the best performance. As the latest development, the ARM-based
chipsets have gone the extra mile by not only conquering the smartphone market, but also
conquering the laptop market by setting a new trend in the industry.
Kaushal Amarasinghe,
Final Year- Department of
References:
1. Is there one, fastest smartphone processor to rule them all?, 2018,
accessed on 30 October 2018,
2. Mobile Processor Exynos 9 Series (9810), 2018, accessed on 22
January, 2019,
3. Android Benchmarks, 2019, accessed on 22 January, 2019,
Computer Engineering,
Faculty of engineering,
University of Peradeniya.
GAUGE Magazine University of Peradeniya
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