Cortex A8 is one of the most popular processor for handhelds and with its ARM architecture it is a big seller among mobile devices, which include iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre. The Cortex A8 core is used by many different processor manufacturers and Samsung has now announced a new superfast model. Its Hummingbird processor operates at 1GHz, which is a big increase from the 600MHz that Apple’s Cortex A8 CPU trot along at.
The processor is based on 45nm technology and is a potent competitor to Qualcomm’s SnapDragon processor. Samsung has also managed to reduce power consumption of the Cortex A8 core quite a lot so the increased clock frequency won’t mean a (big) loss of battery time.
A multi-Vdd / multi-frequency design methodology was also used to ensure the Hummingbird can run at a high speed even at the minimum supply voltage of 1.0V. The low power consumption and the high operating clock performance make the Hummingbird an ideal processor core for use in advanced mobile devices.
When we get to see Hummingbird in action is yet to be announced.
