They had to occupy the extra production capacity with something while everything else moves to shrinking nodes.
This being said the following on Qualcomm's site really cracked me up: "Based on high-performance quad-core A7 processors".
Because yeah, a 7 year old design can definitely be called "high-performance" especially when A7 was always the "little" in big.LITTLE. So it wasn't high performance when it was designed, let alone more than half a decade later.
Older nodes have far lower leakage which is what matters for watches, fitness trackers etc. In the future many low power devices will move to FDSOI for this reason.
Cortex-A7 was used as the main CPU in a huge number of phones (as recently as 2015, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_usin... ). Its performance is close to A53 which is seriously high performance for a watch.
Yes... relatively speaking everything can be high and low performance. You just have to carefully choose the other comparison term.
The A7 was used in many phones because it's small and cheap. But also the lowest end solution you can get. It wasn't high performance in 2011, it isn't now. The last MediaTek SoC using only the A7 (no high-perf cores like the A17) is the MT6592 from 2013. Used only in garbage phones due to the "high" performance. We're in 2018 now.
While I get there is no need for more in a watch, that PR text doesn't say "high performance for a watch". The A7 was always the low power core, just like the A53. The "LITTLE" in big.LITTLE. They are literally called "low performance, power" by their own designers, ARM. If they used an A15 or an A57 I would have a different reaction.
Now imagine someone saying "[insert anything here] using the high performance Pentium III core" in 2018. Maybe it's enough for a mouse, or an alarm clock. Will still make you wince. Or laugh :).
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aryonoco - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Oh yay! A 28nm Cortex A7 in 2018! Yay! Amazing job Qualcomm!close - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
They had to occupy the extra production capacity with something while everything else moves to shrinking nodes.This being said the following on Qualcomm's site really cracked me up: "Based on high-performance quad-core A7 processors".
Because yeah, a 7 year old design can definitely be called "high-performance" especially when A7 was always the "little" in big.LITTLE. So it wasn't high performance when it was designed, let alone more than half a decade later.
Wilco1 - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Older nodes have far lower leakage which is what matters for watches, fitness trackers etc. In the future many low power devices will move to FDSOI for this reason.Cortex-A7 was used as the main CPU in a huge number of phones (as recently as 2015, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_usin... ). Its performance is close to A53 which is seriously high performance for a watch.
close - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
Yes... relatively speaking everything can be high and low performance. You just have to carefully choose the other comparison term.The A7 was used in many phones because it's small and cheap. But also the lowest end solution you can get. It wasn't high performance in 2011, it isn't now. The last MediaTek SoC using only the A7 (no high-perf cores like the A17) is the MT6592 from 2013. Used only in garbage phones due to the "high" performance. We're in 2018 now.
While I get there is no need for more in a watch, that PR text doesn't say "high performance for a watch". The A7 was always the low power core, just like the A53. The "LITTLE" in big.LITTLE. They are literally called "low performance, power" by their own designers, ARM. If they used an A15 or an A57 I would have a different reaction.
Now imagine someone saying "[insert anything here] using the high performance Pentium III core" in 2018. Maybe it's enough for a mouse, or an alarm clock. Will still make you wince. Or laugh :).
tuxRoller - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
cold...dead...handsSydneyBlue120d - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Is Project Treble supported?DigitalFreak - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Nope. It's all about that bass.Tams80 - Tuesday, July 3, 2018 - link
Keep your fish out of my watch.jordanclock - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Yeah. This is the Snapdragon Wear update everyone wanted, Qualcomm. /srocky12345 - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Yea lets target kids I'm sure wearing a smart watch is high on their list of things to want to do.shabby - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
It's a checklist feature...Soc for kids = check
Gunbuster - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
"kid watch segment"Up next the "Kid NVMe segment"