Samsung has announced that its next high-end Android smartphones will feature 64-bit processors.
The news follows Apple’s announcement on
Tuesday that its new flagship smartphone, the iPhone 5S, will be the
first handset to include 64-bit technology, which it describes as a
“desktop-class architecture”.
Samsung’s co-chief executive Shin
Jong-Kyun told journalists in South Korea that the company’s next
smartphones will have 64-bit processing functionality, but added that
this would not arrive instantly, according to a report in the Korea
Times.
It is understood that the Android
operating system would need to be updated before Samsung’s Galaxy
devices could take advantage of a shift to 64-bit.
64-bit chips can theoretically perform
more detailed floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) because they
have larger registers for storing numbers. Such calculations are needed
in graphics and other tasks involving analogue data.
They can also access more than 4GB of
RAM, unlike a 32-bit system. In a smartphone, however, this can also be a
disadvantage, as RAM consumes battery life.
Apple was prasied by analysts for its
inclusion of a 64-bit architecture in its iPhone 5S. It is though that
this will enable the iPhone 5S to validate fingerprints and perform
processing on pictures taken with the “burst” mode from the camera.
“It should certainly help the company
further cement its lead as a mobile gaming platform and will give the
Android fraternity something to think about in a space whose
significance is sometimes downplayed beyond the gaming world,” added
Ovum analyst Tony Cripps.
However, if Samsung does introduces a
64-bit chip in its next smartphone, it may have to wait for a 64-bit
version of Android to be released before it can take full advantage of
the increased processing power.
Earlier this year, Samsung introduced a
version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 with eight cores – twice as many as the
previous maximum.
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