Apple's 64-bit A7 processor hit chipmakers 'in the gut'

When it comes the iPhone 5s, the most distinguishing feature of the smartphone remains it’s dual-core A7 64 bit processor. And it seems that Apple’s new chip also caused a lot of panic among chipmakers. According to a blogpost on Hubspot executives at rival Qualcomm were panicking once the iPhone 5s with the A7 chip was launched. The report quotes a Qualcomm employee as saying, “The 64-bit Apple chip hit us in the gut. Not just us, but everyone, really. We were slack-jawed, and stunned, and unprepared. It’s not that big a performance difference right now, since most current software won’t benefit. But in Spinal Tap terms it’s like, 32 more, and now everyone wants it.” The report also points out that initially Qualcomm CMO Anand Chandrasekher calling the chip “a marketing gimmick." Qualcomm however disagree wit him and said that Chandrasekher’s comment was “inaccurate" after which he was reassigned. [caption id=“attachment_1152385” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Apple’s iPhone 5s is seen in this file photo. Getty Images[/caption] According to the blog post, the fact is that where chips were concerned, everyone was caught on the back foot thanks to Apple’s 64-bit processor. The 64-bit A7 64-bit system can handle data in bigger chunks than 32-bit processors. This means that the device will be able to handle data much faster. In doing this, Apple has followed the line from the PC system where 64-bit is common now. This was also the first time that Apple touted its hardware for the phone, in a market saturated with quad-core smartphones. Rival Samsung has now moved on to octa-core smartphones with the launch of the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 3. As far as the 64-bit system goes, it will only make a difference once app developers create apps to support the 64-bit system. For now, Apple has upgraded all it’s inbuilt app to support the 64-bit chip on the iPhone 5s and the new iPad Air. As far as the iPhone 5s is concerned, it has been outperforming quad-core rivals by miles. AnandTech, which did a detailed review of the iPhone 5s says the smartphone’s new A7 chip with its 64-bit architecture is easily the fastest. According to the post, “The dual-core A7 is now the fastest SoC we’ve tested under SunSpider, even outpacing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 and ARM’s Cortex A15. The iPhone 5s beat the competition in almost every other benchmark test as well.” The truth is that even without the apps the A7 chip is much faster than the competition and that is what is worrying for the competition.