14 DAY TRIAL // Cambridge, England-based ARM has announced today the expansion of its power-efficient processor portfolio with the introduction of the new Cortex A5 MPCore, designed as the smallest, lowest power ARM multicore processor. According to the chip designer, the new part is capable of delivering the necessary performance for running a true Internet experience on a wide range of devices, including low-cost handsets, smartphones, smart mobile devices or even embedded consumer and industrial devices. According to ARM, these processors can deliver almost double the power efficiency of the previous generations.
“The Cortex-A5 processor signals a significant acceleration in the future of Internet connectivity,” said Eric Schorn, vice president of marketing, Processor Division, ARM. “Internet accessibility has long been a critical social opportunity and with the launch of the Cortex-A5 processor we are providing the pervasive Internet with unprecedented power-efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The Cortex-A5 processor scales from ultra low cost handsets and lifestyle Internet devices all the way to consumer, embedded and industrial devices – anything that can be connected to the Internet. We are truly delivering the Internet everywhere.”
ARM's Cortex-A5 is aimed at costumers with ARM9 and ARM11 core licenses and is said to be an upgrade choice for the aforementioned processors. The new product can be configured to boast up to four cores and features the TrustZone security technology and the NEON multimedia processing engine, available since the introduction of the Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9. Given its features and overall specifications, this product appears to be a choice for manufacturers of handsets, feature phones or embedded, consumer and industrial devices.
The new Cortex-A5 is still under development, but the processor is available for general licensing and is expected to be delivered later this year. The first products to be manufactured using this chip aren't expected until sometime next year.