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Intel claims Android is not ready for multi-core processors

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:26PM EST
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Intel, one of the newest chipmakers to enter the Android scene, claimed that rival chip vendors have not done enough to optimise Android for multi-core processors, The Inquirer reported. While the majority of ARM-based vendors are focusing on dual- and quad-core processors, Intel has just entered the Android market with its single-core Medfield Atom processor. The company is doing all it can to defend itself against multi-core heavy weights Samsung, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. Intel’s general manager of mobile and communications Mike Bell recently claimed that Android simply isn’t ready for multi-core processors, despite having supported multi-core chips since Android 2.3.4, and noted that internal testing had shown that multi-core chips sometimes run slower than single-core models. Read on for more.

“If you take a look a lot of handsets on the market, when you turn on the second core or having the second core there [on die], the [current] leakage is high enough and their power threshold is low enough because of the size of the case that it isn’t entirely clear you get much of a benefit to turning the second core on,” Bell claimed. “We ran our own numbers and [in] some of the use cases we’ve seen, having a second core is actually a detriment, because of the way some of the people have not implemented their thread scheduling.”

Bell went on to say that he has “taken a look at the multiple core implementations in the market, and frankly, in a thermal and/or power constrained environment – what has been implemented – it isn’t obvious to me you really get the advantage for the size and the cost of what’s going into that part.”

The executive wouldn’t give a date in terms of when Intel is planning to deliver multi-core Atom processors, however he noted that the company investing in “software to fix the scheduler and fix the threading so if we do multi-core products it actually takes advantage of it.”

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Dan joins the BGR team as the Android Editor, covering all things relating to Google’s premiere operating system. His work has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn’t testing the latest devices or apps, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.