Ever since Apple announced the iPhone 5s last year and with it the 64-bit A7 chip, nerds around the world have been red in the face, screaming at chipset makers and Google to launch a 64-bit version of Android and the silicon required to run it. According to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Intel’s 64-bit enabled Bay Trail chip will be on the market, in Android tablets, during the second quarter of this year. Translation: Any time between April and June.
Taking a step back, is this whole 64-bit issue a chicken and egg problem? In other words, does Google not want to launch a 64-bit of Android until phones are out there with 64-bit chips inside? While I can’t speak for either of these companies, I will say that 32-bit code will run just fine on 64-bit chips. In fact, the ARMv8 architecture that supports 64-bit code has been tweaked in such a way that it’ll run 32-bit code even better than today’s 32-bit chips. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say that by this time next year, it’ll be damn near impossible to even buy a 32-bit smartphone. Flagship phones will use whatever Qualcomm has out. Mid-range phones will likely have a MediaTek chip that uses ARM’s Cortex A57 or A53. And low-end phones will have two to four Cortex A53 cores in them. As for Google, expect 64-bit news at I/O 2014 this spring. Whether they make just the Android kernel 64-bit or the entire Android stack 64-bit is irrelevant, the company just needs a talking point so they can appear to be competitive.
