Chinese chip maker Allwinner has published a roadmap detailing its upcoming ARM-based processors, including the dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 chip for entry-level tables and the A80 octa-core SoC for higher-end devices.
As Liliputing’s Brad Linder notes, Allwinner has also confirmed plans for its first 64-bit chips, although the silicon will likely take some time before it is ready to ship.
In the meantime, the A23 (targeted at entry-level devices) features ARM’s Mali 400 MP2 graphics with support for OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics and 1080p HD video encoding/ decoding.
Meanwhile, Allwinner’s A8x brand will offer a lineup of ARM-based octa-core chips, combining ARM Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processor cores – with applications able to take advantage of all 8 CPU cores simultaneously.
“Allwinner plans to release the first A8x series chips in the first quarter of 2014,” Linder reported. “The company plans to follow that chip up with an A7x chip in early 2015, and by late 2015 the company will introduced a 64-bit chip based on ARM Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 architecture.”
In related news, Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek recently announced that it was working on designing an ARM Cortex-A15 chip with big.LITTLE technology, as well as silicon based on on ARM’s Cortex-A50 technology.
This means the industry could soon be seeing devices powered by 32-bit or 64-bit ARMv8 chips from MediaTek in 2014, which will compete against processors from industry heavyweights like Qualcomm, Samsung and Nvidia.
