Qualcomm backs away from 'marketing gimmick' comment about iPhone 5s' A7 chip

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple supplier Qualcomm has backed away from statements made by a senior executive that the 64-bit capabilities of the iPhone 5s' A7 processor are a "marketing gimmick."


image via iFixit


"The comments made by Anand Chandrasekher, Qualcomm CMO, about 64-bit computing were inaccurate," a Qualcomm spokesperson said in an email. "The mobile hardware and software ecosystem is already moving in the direction of 64-bit; and, the evolution to 64-bit brings desktop class capabilities and user experiences to mobile, as well as enabling mobile processors and software to run new classes of computing devices."

Last week, Chandrasekher ? Qualcomm's senior vice president and chief marketing officer ? caused a stir by saying that iPhone 5s buyers would see little in the way of benefits from the device's 64-bit chip.

"I know there's a lot of noise because Apple did [64-bit] on their A7," Chandrasekher said. "I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There's zero benefit a consumer gets from that."

The Qualcomm executive's remarks raised eyebrows due partly to the fact that he also appeared to hint that Qualcomm ? supplier of the LTE chips used inside Apple's mobile devices ? would soon be coming out with its own 64-bit mobile processors. Such a development "just makes sense [from an engineering standpoint]," Chandrasekher said.

In its response, Qualcomm did not go into further detail on the benefits consumers could expect to see stemming from a move to 64-bit architectures in mobile devices. Chandrasekher last week said that the applications typically benefiting most from such processing power are large, server-class applications running on devices with 4GB of memory or more.

Apple, meanwhile, has maintained since introducing the iPhone 5s and the A7 that access to 64-bit architecture "almost always" results in apps running better.

"Among other architecture improvements," Apple claims, "a 64-bit ARM processor includes twice as many integer and floating-point registers as earlier processors do. As a result, 64-bit apps can work with more data at once for improved performance.

"Apps that extensively use 64-bit integer math or custom NEON operations see even larger performance gains. In a 64-bit process, pointers are 64 bits and some integer types, once 32 bits, are now 64 bits."

Despite Chandrasekher's comments, other mobile players are moving toward 64-bit processing as well. Google's Android platform is rumored to be going 64-bit at some point in the future. Also, Samsung quickly followed the A7's announcement by noting that its next generation of flagship devices will also have 64-bit processors.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    Chandrasekher better update his resume. or maybe he needs to spend more time with his family.
  • Reply 2 of 43
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    As expected, the line was a purposeful lie and complete horse-shit, but it made headlines everywhere and no doubt many took it seriously.
  • Reply 3 of 43
    akqiesakqies Posts: 768member
    slurpy wrote: »
    As expected, the line was a purposeful lie and complete horse-shit, but it made headlines everywhere and no doubt many took it seriously.

    There was a a thread on AI today were some guy who claimed to have decades of knowledge claiming that 64-bit ARM was completely pointless if you don't have at least 4GB of RAM.
  • Reply 4 of 43
    Perhaps the quality of the Qualcomm 64-bit processor is such that it is a gimmick. Apple designed a 64-bit A7 that functioned to give increased performance, while Qualcomm's won't.
  • Reply 5 of 43
    mechanicmechanic Posts: 805member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by akqies View Post





    There was a a thread on AI today were some guy who claimed to have decades of knowledge claiming that 64-bit ARM was completely pointless if you don't have at least 4GB of RAM.

     

    He's clueless.  Read hear for the reasons why he is dead wrong:

     

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4

    http://www.realworldtech.com/arm64/

    http://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2013-09-27-arm64-and-you.html

     

    There are many many reasons why 64 bit is huge and being able to address more than 4 gig of ram is the least of them.  When someone brings up the 4 gig argument it generally means they have no clue what there saying.

     

    The people in the above links do.

  • Reply 6 of 43
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    How is that Qualcomm could have such an idiot as CMO?
  • Reply 7 of 43
    mechanicmechanic Posts: 805member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by FreeRange View Post



    How is that Qualcomm could have such an idiot as CMO?

     

    Heck look at Ballmer panning the iPhone when it came out.  He was an idiot then too.  Look what he has done since then for Microsoft.

    LOL.

    There are unfortunately a lot of executives at companies that really should be doing something else.

    Funny thing is this guy Chandrasekher in the interview Panned the 64 bit move by Apple and then two sentences later said we are developing our own 64 bit chip too.  LOL. If its not worth it then why is qualcomm doing it too?  What a doofus. 

  • Reply 8 of 43
    murmanmurman Posts: 159member

    "Qualcomm backs away from 'marketing gimmick' comment about iPhone 5s' A7 chip"

    Yeah no sh*t, a chip maker that will need to ship 64bit chips soon enough, CMO trash talking went brain dead, the dope.

  • Reply 9 of 43
    Well, at least Qualcomm now knows that they have a jackass working for them, in a senior position.
  • Reply 10 of 43
    Quote:
    "Also, Samsung quickly followed the A7's announcement by noting that its next generation of flagship devices will also have 64-bit processors.

    Samsung = "Me, too! Me, too!"

  • Reply 11 of 43

    "Foot in Mouth for Dummies" by Anand Chandrasekher

     

    "The Apple 64bit A7 mobile CPU is just a marketing gimmick. That's why Qualcomm is building one too"

  • Reply 12 of 43
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    Advice to Qualcomm - fire him. For an SVP, this shows, at a minimum, a serious lack of judgement. At worse, a serious lack of expertise. My guess is it lies somewhere in the middle. Regardless, it puts the company in a very bad situation, especially if, as I suspect, 64 bit is core to your roadmap over the next three years
  • Reply 13 of 43
    undedunded Posts: 43member
    The herd is following the leader...as always.
  • Reply 14 of 43
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member
    Ha ha. Bad mouth one of your biggest customers' products. How could a Chief Marketing Officer be that clueless about maintaining good relations with their major customers?

    The CEO probably got a short, terse late night phone call from Mistah Cook.
  • Reply 15 of 43
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member

    I love how they say the ecosystem is already heading to 64-bit... now that Apple has lead the way. What a bunch of losers.

  • Reply 16 of 43
    Qualcomm is doing damage control because they're probably planning the 64-bit chip transition themselves in the future, and they would want their own CMO's words to come back to haunt them.

    The timing of Chandrasekhar's statements and the fact that it's aimed at Apple puts it squarely in the "Fandroids spreading FUD about A7" category.
  • Reply 17 of 43
    akqiesakqies Posts: 768member
    jkichline wrote: »
    I love how they say the ecosystem is already heading to 64-bit... now that Apple has lead the way. What a bunch of losers.

    Remember when the iPad was stupid and pointless and now those same people are saying that Android tablets are better and faster despite all evidence to the contrary?
  • Reply 18 of 43
    estyleestyle Posts: 201member

    Don't Spokespersons work for the marketing department?

    So one of the CMO's subordinates has the job of remarketing the horrible marketing that the CMO creates when he ejaculates his wisdom?

    That just sucks

  • Reply 19 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Napoleon_PhoneApart View Post

     

    Samsung = "Me, too! Me, too!"


     

    I think Samsung was surprised by Apple's 64bit A7 even though they were working on it. Apple could have been sampling the A7 while at the same time putting in large orders for the A6 (to power the 5c and maybe iPad Mini 2). Processors take a long time to develop so Samsung could have just assumed Apple was sticking with the A6 (because of the orders) and simply testing out the A7 while they redo iOS 7/8 for 64bit support.

     

    Then maybe a couple months before the iPhone 5s was announced Apple suddenly asked Samsung to mass produce the A7 indicating it was ready for prime time.

  • Reply 20 of 43
    eluardeluard Posts: 319member

    It was said here that his comment was clueless and contradictory — the question is how did it take so long to issue a retraction.

     

    Bad-mouthing Apple has become the go-to response from the tech media.

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