October 15, 2020 – In order to drive the further development of mobile innovation, Arm recently announced that starting in 2022, all Cortex-A large cores facing the market will only support 64-bit. The initiative is part of Arm’s focus on “Total Compute,” which aims to push the boundaries of computing performance, security, and optimize developer access to resources to create the most engaging and immersive applications.
A Transformative Approach to System-on-Chip Design
Arm launched “Comprehensive Compute” last year with the aim of meeting new mobile-driven realities by improving design methods to surpass the performance of raw CPUs and adopt a more holistic approach that can change system designs based on real-world use-case analysis. This approach confirms that breakthrough performance can be achieved by transcending the boundaries of cores and technologies and viewing the entire system as an organic whole.
The three key tenets of the “Comprehensive Computing” strategy are: improving the computing performance of the system, ensuring better access to that performance by developers through Arm’s software and tools, and securing the entire ecosystem. Any one of these three principles is critical to Arm’s vision for the future of computing, which unlocks innovation through new capabilities and enables the highest levels of creativity to expand the possibilities of developers. Among them, migrating applications to 64-bit is an important part of realizing this future vision.
The future of 64-bit for faster, more advanced mobile experiences
If developers are to create new and complex digital immersive experiences that consumers demand, their applications must continue to migrate to 64-bit. The 64-bit instruction set provides a performance boost (up to 20% in some workloads) and computing power in hardware, making these experiences faster and more responsive. Compared to 32-bit processors, 64-bit CPUs can handle larger amounts of data in memory, meeting the demands of new compute-intensive workloads such as future artificial intelligence (AI), XR (augmented and virtual reality) and High-fidelity mobile gaming and other experiences.
“By migrating to 64-bit, developers can get better security and performance on their applications, while also adapting to mobile devices that are expected to only support The 64-bit trend. Starting in 2022, Arm’s large Cortex-A cores will only support 64-bit, saving costs and shortening time-to-market for developers to design and deploy next-generation user experiences.”
Support from Arm partners
Currently, less than 1% of smartphones that are planned or sold in China’s domestic market only support 32-bit; in other words, the vast majority of smartphones in the domestic market are 64-bit compatible. Market-leading handset manufacturers and app stores also support plans to migrate to 64-bit.
OPPO said: “The 64-bit architecture is the future of the global Android ecosystem and can bring better performance in terms of system performance and security. We support the plan to migrate mobile terminals to the 64-bit architecture and encourage developers to launch 64-bit applications as soon as possible. In this way, on the one hand, the whole ecosystem is ensured to be ready for the arrival of ‘more efficient 64-bit’ devices, and on the other hand, developers can continue to make their applications available to users in a timely manner.”
Xiaomi said: “The immersive mobile experience based on the higher computing performance of the 64-bit architecture has arrived and will continue to lead the future. Such an experience requires the cooperation of the entire ecosystem. We work closely with Arm and its ecosystem to provide China Developers provide the necessary support to migrate to 64-bit, enabling innovation today and in the future.”
For game developers, the advantages of 64-bit are especially important, providing faster load times, smoother graphics, and a better overall gaming experience for gaming applications. Game engine leader Unity also supports the 64-bit migration.
Zhang Junbo, President of Unity Greater China, said: “Unity China is looking forward to the optimization and performance brought by the 64-bit architecture. Focusing on a single instruction set will allow us to optimize code more efficiently, which will greatly help Chinese developers and their applications. “
Pushing performance and safety even further
Arm’s commitment to 64-bit is also reflected in an update to its end-product roadmap, which reveals the next two generations of CPUs, codenamed Matterhorn and Makalu. Compared with the current Cortex-A78, the performance of these two CPUs has been improved by up to 30%, and a new security function of Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) has been introduced to strengthen the prevention of possible security vulnerabilities in the memory subsystem.
Resources on Arm in 64-bit
For most developers, the process of migrating to 64-bit applications is not complicated. Through the Jishu community, Chinese developers can obtain relevant transfer resources provided by Arm.which includes
· Blog detailing the benefits of 64-bit
A white paper detailing what developers need to do to implement a 64-bit migration and maximize their performance and security
Developers can also sign up for the Arm DevSummit online conference in China on November 4-5 to learn more about Arm in the field of 64-bit mobile terminals.
The Links: NL6448BC26-27F SKKT323-16E
