wraggster
April 2nd, 2013, 17:39
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/arm-a57-tape-out-04-02-13-01_620x340.jpgYour current smartphone just took another spin backwards on the obsolescence cycle thanks to a new landmark from ARM and TSMC: the first Cortex-A57 (http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/30/arm-cortex-a50/) has reached the "tape out" stage, meaning it's ready for mass production. The new chip will use TSMC's 16nm FinFET technology (http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/13/arm-and-globalfoundries-hammer-out-20nm-deal/) (though the transistors will be 20nm for the A57) and will bring up to three times the CPU power of current chips (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/15/samsung-puts-exynos-5-octa-into-mass-production/) for the same battery life -- or a maximum of five times the battery life at the same speed. The companies said they ramped the chip from design to tape out in a mere six months, though there's no timetable for its arrival in specific devices. When it does start hitting next gen phones and slates though, expect the performance charts (http://www.engadget.com/tag/GLBenchmark/) to get singed.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/02/tsmc-arm-cortex-a57-tape-out/
http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/02/tsmc-arm-cortex-a57-tape-out/