Samsung's next smartphone to have 64-bit processor

Samsung's next major flagship will have a 64-bit, processor according to CEO JK Shin.

In a classic case of keeping up with the Joneses, Samsung has revealed it will follow Apple's iPhone 5s by introducing a 64-bit processor in its next major smartphone release.

Samsung chief executive JK Shin, speaking to the Korea Times Newspaper, responded to questions regarding its competition with Apple and the Cupertino giant's recent revelation on 64-bit architecture. When asked if Samsung would follow suit, Shin said, Not in the shortest time, but yet, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processor functionality.

However, it's difficult to see this as anything other than pure one upmanship, as many are already calling into question the usefulness of Apple adopting 64-bit architecture on the iPhone 5s.

As the reports, In order to tap into the biggest performance gains offered by a 64-bit chip, you need a smartphone with more than four gigabytes of RAM. And while Apple hasn't said how much RAM it has built into the 5s, it's highly unlikely that it's enough to meet that requirement.

The criticism here is that it's little more than a marketing poly,similar to companies bragging about the number of cores, despite the fact that most apps are only coded to make use of one or at most two.

There are some advantages even without 4GB of RAM, however vice president of research at Yankee Group said the fact that the A7 has twice as many processor registers means that more operations can occur without the processor using main memory, which is slower to access.

This means for that for some codes, the a7 will be twice as fast (or faster depending on how many memory accesses the original code had) to run code because the processor doesn't have to use main memory as much, he added.

Kevin Krewell, analyst at the Linley Group, also said the ARMv8 instruction set is clean slate approach with many improvements. Even without 4GB of RAM, the A7 should make it easier to build larger applications like PC-class games and programs. Apps can now become real desktop-class programs and games.

Developers will also be able to easily port apps and content developed for Mac OSX into the iOS space.

But the problem in Apple's case is that as long as it supports its existing iOS device catalouge there's a lot of legacy 32-bit content which will remain prominent until 64-bit takes off. According to Krewell the benifits may be slow to come.

In the case of Samsung it may be a different story entirely, however as the register's Bill Ray points out, Apple at least has control over iOS and its suite of utility apps, which have been recompiled as 64-bit binaries, but Samsung is dependent on Google to push Android along and the world's biggest advertising agency has shown no inclination to go that way.

A 32-bit Android will run on a 64-bit RAM processor,but without taking advantage of larger CPU registers and associated instructions, nor the ability to address virtual memory beyond 4GB (and physical memory beyond a ridiculous 1TB) there would be little point beyond the associated bragging rights.