After calling the A7 — the 64-bit system-on-a-chip that’s in the iPhone 5S and new iPads — a “gimmick”, Qualcomm CMO Anand Chandrasekher soon found himself Qualcomm’s ex-CMO. It’s probably because Qualcomm are likely to be announcing their own 64-bit chips soon.
Here’s his career-changing quote:
“I know there’s a lot of noise because Apple did [64-bit] on their A7. I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There’s zero benefit a consumer gets from that.”
In other words: 32 bits ought to be good enough for anybody.
64-bit processing gives you the ability to address more than 4GB, and the A7’s benefits go well beyond a wider address bus. Anand of Anandtech does a great job explaining the likely reasons why Apple’s making the move to 64-bit mobile computing, so I’ll let him have the last word.