The ARM Cortex-A15 will be out in handsets by the end of the year,says Laurence Bryant,director of ARM's mobile solutions group.
Asked if the problems with 28nm supply would affect that aspiration,Bryant replied:"From what I hear,there will be A15 dual core Cortex A15 chip-sets out by the end of the year."
Asked why a handset needs two A15s rather than one,Bryant said:"Two cores running at less than full speed increases power efficiency compared to one A15 running flat out."
Two expected suppliers of dual-core A15 chips will be TI's OMAP 5 made on a 28nm process,and Samsung's Exynos 5 made on a 32nm HKMG process..
Asked why chip manufacturers would use two A15s rather than an A15 and an A7 in ARM's Big-Little concept,Bryant replied:"It's the development cycle.We expect to see Big-Little designs out in the first half of next year."
Bryant added:"We see Big-Little as delivering the best trade off between power and performance."
