ARM unveils Hard Macro based quad-core Cortex-A15 chips

It’s clear that quad-core ARM based chips are here for the long haul and with tablet/notebook hybrids running Windows 8 in the pipeline, the demand is only going to increase. Currently, ARM’s Cortex A-15 based processor sits happily in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoC and while it had plenty of power, it’s not very power efficient. Despite being built on the 28nm fabrication process, it’s still very taxing on the battery. ARM has addressed that issue with the unveiling of their new Cortex A-15 variant that is based on their Hard Macro implementation. These versions are locked down by ARM and do not allow SoC manufacturers to tweak the architecture while implementing it. While this may seem as a bit of a disadvantage, it actually allows ARM to lock down the power requirement allowing them to guarantee even performance across devices. This also means that manufacturers need not spend time tweaking the chip to get a better battery life as it will be taken care of by ARM.

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