11/17/2017 Guide to smartphone hardware (1/7): Processors - Neowin

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Guide to smartphone hardware (1/7): Processors

By Tim Schiesser @scorpusv
Feb 12, 2012 HOT! 24

With such a huge range of smartphone hardware on the market today from vendors such as Samsung, HTC,
Apple, Motorola, LG and more, it can be very confusing to keep up with what exactly is inside each of these
devices. There are at least 10 di erent CPUs inside smartphones, many di erent GPUs, a seemingly endless
combination of display hardware and a huge variety of other bits and bobs.

This multi-part guide is intended to help you understand each and every one of the critical components in
your smartphone and how they compare to other hardware on the market. Each section is intended to give
you all the necessary information about the hardware, and even more for the tech enthusiasts out there, so
expect them all to be lengthy and lled with details.

Over the next several days and weeks well be posting up another part of the guide. In todays guide Ill be
looking at smartphone processors: the di erent brands, types, how they perform and the critical di erences
between them.

Part 1: Processors (this article)

Part 2: Graphics
Part 3: Memory & Storage
Part 4: Displays
Part 5: Connectivity & Sensors (coming soon)
Part 6: Batteries (coming soon)
Part 7: Cameras (coming soon)

System-on-a-Chip
This is a term youve probably come across before, and for good reason. When reviewers are talking about the
processors inside a smartphone they are usually actually referring to the system-on-a-chip: a combination
chipset that features things such as the actual processor cores, the graphics chipset, the RAM and possibly
ROM as well, interface controllers for things such as USB and wireless tech, voltage regulators and more.

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The idea behind a system-on-a-chip, or SoC, is that all the critical components of a device are located in a
relatively small area on the device. This reduces the size of the component board needed inside and also can
help make the device itself faster and more battery e cient. They also help reduce costs for assembling the
product and can also be cheaper than an equivalent multi-chip set-up.

Im more speci cally looking at the processing cores inside the SoC as well as available SoC packages today,
but you can look out for the other parts of this article for more detailed information on the graphics chip,
memory and more.

What does ARM have to do with it?

References to ARM when it comes to SoCs can unfortunately be confusing. ARM is essentially three things: a
company, a microprocessor architecture and processor core; all of which you may have guessed are related.
ARM Holdings plc is the British-based company that, since 1983, has developed the ARM microprocessor
instruction architecture which is used inside their ARM processor cores.

Where other companies like NVIDIA, Texas Instruments and Samsung come in is in the production of the
SoCs. They take (through licensing) the ARM developed and produced processor core and put it inside their
chipsets in combination with whatever GPUs, memory and other things they desire. Qualcomm is a slightly
di erent story, but well get to that later.

This is why two SoCs from di erent companies can both appear to contain the same processor, such as how
both the TI OMAP3630 and Samsung Exynos 3310 use a single-core 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 solution. They are
di erent though in their use of other components, such as how the OMAP uses a PowerVR SGX530 GPU but
the Exynos features the SGX540.

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The ARM1 building in Cambridge, where integral parts of smartphones are developed

The ARM architecture is something that you dont really have to worry about when looking at a new
smartphone as almost all new ARM processors feature their ARMv7 architecture. The older ARMv6
architecture was used on old ARM11 processors, which in turn were used in old SoCs on devices such as the
HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1, the rst Android phone) and iPhone 3G.

Currently there are two ARM processor types that are widely in use: the ARM Cortex-A8 and ARM Cortex-A9
MPCore; both use the ARMv7 architecture. Without getting extremely technical, the Cortex-A8 is usually found
in single-core implementations and the Cortex-A9 in devices with up to 4 cores. The A9 is the newer
implementation and as well as being (usually) multi-core, it is slightly faster per MHz than the A8 processors
(2.0 DMIPS/MHz vs. 2.5 DMIPS/MHz).

Youll nd the ARM Cortex-A8 processor inside SoCs such as the TI OMAP3 series and Samsungs SP5C series
(Hummingbird/Exynos 3xxx). The Cortex-A9 is found in the TI OMAP4 series, Samsung Exynos 4xxx series,
NVIDIAs Tegra 2/3 and the Apple A5.

ARM also makes the Mali range of graphics processors, which Ill be looking at in the graphics part of this
series.

In the future well be seeing SoCs that feature ARMs Cortex-A15 MPCore, which is allegedly 40% faster than
the Cortex-A9. We should see these in the TI OMAP5 series, Samsung Exynos 5xxx series and the Tegra
"Wayne" series in late 2012/early 2013. In the distant future we can also expect ARM cores that use their
ARMv8 architecture.

Qualcomm processors and Snapdragon SoCs

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Qualcomm is slightly di erent to the other SoC manufacturers in that they dont actually use the reference
ARM processor core designs. Instead they take cues from the ARM Cortex-A8 and make improvements that
they package into their very own Scorpion and Krait CPUs. This obviously requires more research and
development than say the TI OMAP series, but is apparently slightly better for media-related operations and
power e ciency compared to the standard Cortex-A8.

These processors make their way into Qualcomms Snapdragon range of SoCs, which are split up into
di erent series. Each series is numbered from S1 to S4 (currently), and the higher the series the more
powerful and (usually) the more recent the SoCs are. As of writing there are no products on the market that
make use of Qualcomms S4 chipsets, but they are on their way shortly.

Snapdragon SoCs are usually named using a three-letter designation followed by four numbers. QSD was
used on the older S1 processors, followed later by MSM for devices with wireless connectivity and APQ for
those without. When it comes to the numbers, the rst (eg. 8xxx) indicates the class with 7 usually meaning
low range and 8 meaning mid/high end. The second number (eg. x2xx) indicates whether the device is GSM or
CDMA, with 2 indicating GSM and 6 indicating CDMA. The nal two numbers usually designate the
performance grade of the CPU: eg. the MSM8255 is a 1 GHz S2 single-core, then up to the MSM8260 1.2 GHz
S3 dual-core, and then to the future MSM8270 Krait-powered S4 Snapdragon.

Both S1 and S2 Snapdragon SoCs are single-core only, ranging up to 1.5 GHz via their Scorpion processors
inside. S1 was the primary and only processor type allowed in the rst batch of Windows Phones, using the 1
GHz QSD8x50, and was also used in some Android devices such as the HTC Desire, HTC Droid Incredible,
Nexus One and HTC EVO 4G.

The S2 Snapdragons are used in a much wider range of products. S2 di ers from S1 in that there is a more
powerful graphics processor inside along with a decrease in process from 65nm to 45nm, which helps
conserve power and heat output allowing for larger CPU clocks. Youll see the 1 GHz MSM8x55 in a huge range
of Android products such as the HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire S, HTC Thunderbolt and pretty much all of Sony
Ericssons rst-batch of Xperia devices (including the Xperia Play).

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There is also a faster S2 SoC which is the MSM8x55T which is clocked between 1.4 and 1.5 GHz. This is seen in
a lot of the second generation Windows Phones such as the Nokia Lumia series, HTC Titan and Samsung
Focus S. It is also used in a few Android devices such as the HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy W.

The S3 Snapdragons see a jump from single-core to dual-core SoCs, as well as a graphics boost. These devices
are manufactured using the 45nm process and the Scorpion cores used are still Cortex-A8-based, as opposed
to other dual-core SoCs that use newer Cortex-A9 technology. Youll nd the 1.2-1.5 GHz S3 MSM8x60 in
products like the HTC Sensation, HTC EVO 3D, HTC Rezound and some Samsung Galaxy S II models.

Apart from the obvious di erences in each series processor and graphics chips, along with progressively
smaller manufacturing processes, each series improves on other capabilities such as camera resolution,
screen resolution and media tasks. Below is a quick rundown of each series in these respects.

Snapdragon S1: Supports up to 720p displays, 720p playback and 720p video recording. Supports up to
12 megapixel cameras. Supports up to HSPA radios
Snapdragon S2: Improves on S2 by adding support for HSPA+. Better graphics hardware
Snapdragon S3: Supports WSXGA (1440x900) displays, 1080p playback and 1080p recording. Supports
full stereoscopic 3D capabilities including dual-cameras, recording and playback. Supports up to 16 MP
cameras. Adds Dolby 5.1 surround sound support and echo/noise cancellation

Of course devices that choose to use a certain Snapdragon SoC may not choose to fully utilize the maximum
capabilities of the chipset, and in fact most dont.

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A chip block diagram for the Snapdragon S4 SoCs using Krait CPUs

The next step for the Snapdragon line is the S4 series, which ditches the Scorpion CPU in favour for
Qualcomms new Krait CPU. Krait allows for up to four cores in the SoC at up to 2.5 GHz per core, and is made
on their new 28nm process. S4 also improves greatly on the GPU inside and memory capabilities, includes LTE
support in the SoC, 1080p display and HDMI support, up to three 20 MP cameras, up to four microphones for
recording/noise cancellation, Dolby 7.1 surround sound support, dual-band WiFi support and Bluetooh 4.0
capabilities. Qualcomm also claims that the CPU is less power hungry, which Im guessing is mostly down to
the decrease in manufacturing process size.

We should be seeing new devices with the Snapdragon S4 chipsets inside sometime this year, rst announced
in the Lenovo IdeaTab S2 10-inch tablet. The IdeaTab S2 should have a 1.5 GHz dual-core S4 Snapdragon
8x60A inside.

Until then, a good idea of how Qualcomms top-end Snapdragon S3 SoC performs can be seen in our HTC
Sensation review, and from personal experience with the device it performs very well. I eagerly await testing a
device with Krait inside though to see how it matches up not only to the older Snapdragons but to other SoC
o erings.

GUIDE SMARTPHONE HARDWARE PROCESSORS SOC SNAPDRAGON EXYNOS OMAP TEGRA

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