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INTRODUCTION
1
"Krait" microprocessor architecture in the second generation of Snapdragon SoCs
in 2011, allowing each processor core to adjust its speed based on the device's
needs. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, Qualcomm introduced the first of
the Snapdragon 800 series and renamed prior models as the 200, 400 and 600
series. Several new iterations have been introduced since, such as the Snapdragon
805, 810, 615 and 410. Qualcomm re-branded its modem products under the
Snapdragon name in December 2014.[1]
1.2 History
1.2.1 Pre-release
2
power than Intel chips announced around the same time and claimed it would also
cost less when released. That same month, Qualcomm introduced a Snapdragon-
based protoytpe netbook called Kayak that used 1.5 GHz processors and was
intended for developing markets.
In May 2009, Java SE was ported and optimized for Snapdragon. At the
November 2009 Computex Taipei show, Qualcomm announced the QSD8650A
addition to the Snapdragon product suite, which was based on 45 nanometer
manufacturing processes. It featured a 1.2 GHz processor and had lower power
consumption than prior models.[1]
1.2.3 Adoption
By late 2009, smartphone manufacturers announced they would be using
Snapdragon semiconductors in the Acer Liquid Metal, HTC HD2, Toshiba
TG01 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Lenovo announced the first netbook
product using Snapdragon SoCs that December. According to PC World, mobile
devices using Snapdragon had better battery life and were smaller in size than
those using other SoCs.
By June 2010, Snapdragon chips were embedded in 20
available consumer devices and incorporated into 120 product designs in
development. Apple had a dominant market position for smartphones at the time
and did not incorporate Snapdragon into any of its products. The success of
Snapdragon therefore relied on competing Android phones, such as Google's
Nexus One and the HTC Incredible, challenging Apple's market position. Android
devices did end up taking market share from the iPhone and predominantly used
Snapdragon. As of July 2014, the market share of Android phones had grown to
84.6 percent. There was an "unconfirmed but widely circulated report" speculating
that Apple was going to start using Snapdragon SoCs in Verizon-based iPhones.
As of 2012, Apple was still using their own semiconductor designs. Support for
desktop Windows operating systems was added to Snapdragon in October 2010.
By 2011 Snapdragon was embedded in Hewlett Packard's WebOS devices and had
a 50% market share of a $7.9 billion smartphone processor market. By 2015,
Snapdragon was used in most non-Apple smartphones.
3
1.2.4 Later models
4
audio recording. That November Qualcomm acquired some assets from EPOS
Development in order to integrate its stylus and gesture recognition technology
into Snapdragon products. It also collaborated with Microsoft to
optimize Windows Phone 8 for Snapdragon semiconductors.
1. Snapdragon S1
2. Snapdragon S2
3. Snapdragon S3
4. Snapdragon S4
5. Snapdragon 200 series
6. Snapdragon 400 series
7. Snapdragon 600 series
8. Snapdragon 800 series
2.2 Snapdragon S1
Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 is the first SoC (System on chip) marked by
Qualcomm in 2007.Basic specification and details are as discussed below.
7
Semi CPU CPU
Model
conductor instructi CPU cache RAM Year
number
technology on set (in KB)
2.3 Snapdragon S2
Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 is the first SoC (System on chip) after
Snapdragon S1 marked by Qualcomm in 2007. The S2 was the processor of 45nm
semiconductor technology. Snapdragon S2 was used in modern single-core
Android smart phones.[3]
Basic specification and details as discussed below.
8
This processor is based on the Reduced Instruction Set
Computing (RISC) design strategy enabling instructions to execute faster, as
opposed to the Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) design strategy, which
is generally slower at executing due to lengthy instructions.
9
Semi CPU CPU
Model
conductor instruction CPU cache RAM Year
number
technology set (in KB)
Up to 1 GHz Dual-channel
MSM8255 45 nm ARMv7 L2: 384 Q2 2010
Scorpion 333 MHz LPDDR2
Up to 1 GHz Dual-channel
MSM8655 45 nm ARMv7 L2: 384 Q2 2010
Scorpion 333 MHz LPDDR2
2.4 Snapdragon S3
The Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 is an entry level SoC for smartphones and
tablets (mostly Android based). It contains two Scorpion cores (enhanced ARM
Cortex-A8) clocked at up to 1.7 GHz, a Adreno 220 graphics card and radio
elements. [3]
10
2.4.1 Central Processing Unit
The Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 has an average performing CPU with a
maximum clock speed of 1,700.00 MHz. It has 2 core(s), resulting in good multi-
tasking when compared to a single core processor.
As a result of following the Harvard architecture, the CPU has a separate
Level 1 instruction and data cache leading to a slight improvement in performance
over a unified Level 1 cache. The instruction cache is only used for storing
instructions and executes in a sequential manner. The data cache stores data used
by instructions; the point of access or storage is generally specified by an
instruction.
This processor is based on the Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)
design strategy enabling instructions to execute faster, as opposed to the Complex
Instruction Set Computing (CISC) design strategy, which is generally slower at
executing due to lengthy instructions.
11
Table 2.5 External Component of Snapdragon S3
2.5 Snapdragon S4
The S4-based generation of Snapdragon SoCs began shipping to product
manufacturers with the MSM8960 in February 2012. In benchmark tests by Anand
tech, the MSM8960 had better performance than any other processor tested. In an
overall system benchmark, the 8960 obtained a score of 907, compared to 528 and
658 for the Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound respectively.
Semi CPU
Model CPU cache
cond. instructio CPU RAM Year
number (in KB)
Tech. n set
13
Up to 1.2 GHz dual-
MSM8625 45 nm ARMv7 core ARM Cortex-A5 L2: 512 KB 1H 2012
14
Up to 1.7 GHz dual-
core Krait 300,
natural language L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, Dual-channel
MSM8960 28 nm processor and L1: 16 KB + 500 MHz
DT LP ARMv7 contextual processor 16 KB, L2: 1 MB LPDDR2 Q3 2013
L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, Dual-channel
28 nm Up to 1.5 GHz quad- L1: 16 KB + 533 MHz
APQ8064 LP ARMv7 core Krait 16 KB, L2: 2 MB LPDDR2 2012
L0: 4 KB + 4 KB,
28 nm Up to 1.7 GHz quad- L1: 16 KB + Dual-channel
MPQ8064 LP ARMv7 core Krait 16 KB, L2: 2 MB 533 MHz 2012
15
2.6 Snapdragon 200
The entry-level 200 series was expanded with six new processors using 28
nanometer manufacturing and dual or quad-core options in June 2013. With the
expanded line of Snapdragon 200 processors, Qualcomm Technologies is building
on its dual-and quad-core processor portfolio for entry-level smartphones and
tablets, bringing key process technology and modem features to all Snapdragon
tiers. The latest additions to the Snapdragon 200 class also feature: graphics
performance with Adreno 302 GPU; integrated IZat Location functionality and
support of Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0; support for the latest Android, Windows
Phone and Firefox operating systems; RxD support; and a single, multimode
modem enabling faster data rates, fewer dropped calls, and better connections
16
2.6.3 Digital Signal Processing
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 has a specialized digital signal
microprocessor that is used for the low-power operation of a device in applications
that deal with analog signals such as audio, video, and mobile broadband signals.
Each analog signal is converted into a digital signal that is then processed by the
DSP at a lower latency (relative to the CPU running the same digital signal
processing algorithm), thus improving performance. [3]
CPU
Model Semiconducto Memory
instructio CPU Year
number r technology technology
n set
ARMv7 LPDDR2
8210 Up to 1.2 GHz dual- 2013
28 nm LP
core ARM Cortex-A7
8610 2013
17
8212 Up to 1.2 GHz quad- 2013
core ARM Cortex-A7
8612 2013
Semicond CPU
Model CPU Memory
uctor instructio CPU Year
number cache technology
technology n set
Up to 1.2 GHz quad- L1:
8026 core ARM Cortex- 32 KB, L2: LPDDR2 2013
A7 1 MB
Up to 1.2 GHz quad- L1:
8226 28 nm LP ARMv7 core ARM Cortex- 32 KB, L2: LPDDR2 2103
A7 1 MB
Up to 1.6 GHz quad- L1:
8228 core ARM Cortex- 32 KB, L2: LPDDR2 2013
A7 1 MB
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Up to 1.2 GHz quad-
L1: 32 KB,
8626 core ARM Cortex- LPDDR2 2013
L2: 1 MB
A7
Up to 1.6 GHz quad-
L1: 32 KB,
8628 core ARM Cortex- LPDDR2 2013
L2: 1 MB
A7
1.2 GHz quad-core L1: 32 KB, Q4
8926 LPDDR2
ARM Cortex-A7 L2: 1 MB 2013
L1:
1.6 GHz quad-core
8928 32 KB, L2: LPDDR2 2013
ARM Cortex-A7
1 MB
Up to 1.2 GHz dual- L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8230
core Krait 200 L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
Up to 1.2 GHz dual- L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8630
core Krait 200 L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
Up to 1.2 GHz dual- L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8930
core Krait 200 L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
Up to 1.4 GHz dual- L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8930AA
core Krait 300 L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8230AB
L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
Up to 1.7 GHz dual- L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @
8630AB 2013
core Krait 300 L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
L1: 32 KB, LPDDR2 @ 2013
8930AB
L2: 1 MB 533 MHz
20
(according to Anandtech). However, the performance of Cortex-A15 cores should
not be reached, but the power consumption should be better.
21
2.8.4 External Components
Display Support
External Component Interfaces
USB 3.0
RAM Interface Dual-channel LPDDR3 SDRAM
Primary Camera Support 21 MP
Video Encoding 1080p
Video Decoding 1080p
Display Resolution Support 2048 x 1536 pixels
GPS Module Type gpsOneGen 8A with GLONASS
Semicond
Model uctor Memory
CPU CPU cache Year
number technolog technology
y
Up to 1.7 GHz L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: Dual-channel Q1
APQ8064T 28 nm LP
quad-coreKrait 300 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB 600 MHz LPDDR3 2013
22
Mobile) HKMG process, whereas the Snapdragon 600 was manufactured in 28nm
LP. In addition to 4 CPU cores with a clock speed of up to 2.3 GHz, the chip also
integrates an Adreno 330 GPU up to 450 MHz, an LPDDR3-1600 memory
controller and various radio modules.[6]
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Each analog signal is converted into a digital signal that is then processed by the
DSP at a lower latency (relative to the CPU running the same digital signal
processing algorithm), thus improving performance.
Dual-
Octa-core 4+4 cores Hydra
CPU Quad-core Cortex-A7 core+Quad-core
Cortex-A53 and Cortex
Cortex-A53
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Dual-channel
RAM LPDDR2/LPDDR3 533 LPDDR3 933 LPDDR4 1866
LPDDR3
Technology MHz MHz MHz
933 MHz
Bluetooth Smart Native Bluetooth
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth 4.1
v4.1 4.1 support
Multi-User
VIVE 1-stream 802.11ac (2.4 and
WiFi - MIMO (MU-
802.11ac WiFi 5 GHz) WiFi
MIMO) WiFi
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CHAPTER-3
SNAPDRAGON PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE
The Snapdragon central processing unit (CPU) uses the ARM RISC
instruction set, and a single SoC may include multiple CPU cores, a graphics
processing unit (GPU), a wireless modem, and other software and hardware to
support a smartphone's global positioning system (GPS), camera, gesture
recognition and video. Snapdragon semiconductors are embedded in most Google
Android and Windows Phone devices.
A Snapdragon Processor system on a chip or system on chip (SoC or SOC)
is an integrated circuit (IC) that integrates all components of a computer or other
electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal,
and often radio-frequency functionsall on a single chip substrate.
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Fig 3.1 Snapdragon processor block diagram
Fig 3.1 shows the different components of snapdragon processor. Mainly divided
into 7 blocks as follows Computing Engines, Cellular, Multimedia Engines,
System Security, Memory, Location and low Power Island.
3.2 CPU
A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a system
that carries out the instructions of a program by performing the basic arithmetic,
logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions. The
term has been used in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s
27
Experiences like virtual reality, computer vision, and advanced imaging are
helping expand smartphone capabilities, while also demanding more performance.
Balancing increased performance with longer battery life has always been critical
for mobile processorsand Snapdragon 820 has been designed with efficiency
throughout.
The CPU is still one of the most familiar cores on the modern SoC and is
key in setting the speed and heartbeat for the entire processor. With the
Snapdragon 820, Qualcomm Technologies is introducing Qualcomm Kryo, our
first custom-designed 64-bit quad-core CPU, as part of a comprehensive redesign
of our premium-tier mobile processor.
Kryo is tightly integrated with the Adreno 530 GPU and Hexagon 680
DSP and is designed for high-performance mobile computing along with the latest
in multimedia and connectivity. Kryo follows the popular custom Krait CPU,
which powers the Snapdragon 800, 801, and 805 processors.
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3.2.3 Symphony System Manager
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Fig: The higher the Snapdragon tier, the higher the performance and the
faster the speeds
The number of levels in the memory hierarchy and the performance at each
level has increased over time. The memory hierarchy of an Snapdragon Processor
is :
Level 1 (L1): Level-1 (L1) cache is divided into two parts first is
instruction and another is data cache. It usually comes within the processor chip
itself. L1 cache comes between L0 and L2. Instruction cache is 128 KB in size and
Data cache is 128 KB in size. Best access speed is around 700 GB/second. The L1
cache feeds the L0 cache, and slower than the L0 memory, but faster than L2.
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Level 2 (L2): Level-2 (L2) cache is instruction and data (shared) cache. L2
is 128KB to 1 MB in size. Best access speed is around 200 GB/second. L2 is bigger
than the primary cache It also comes within the processor chip itself. L2 cache
comes between L1 and LPRAM. The L2 cache feeds the L1 cache, and its slower
than the L1 memory, but faster than L3.
3.2.5 RAM
Mobile RAM (also known as mDDR, Low Power DDR, Mobile DDR, or
LPDDR) is a type of double data rate synchronous DRAM for mobile computers.
Snapdragon uses LPDDR4 technology with clock speed of 16MHz.
Just as with standard SDRAM, each generation of LPDDR has doubled the
internal fetch size and external transfer speed. Maximum transfer rates are:
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LPDDR generations
3.3 GPU
GPUs are an essential part of those chipsets and as mobile games are
pushing the boundaries of their capabilities, the GPU performance is becoming
increasingly important. A graphics processing unit (GPU), also occasionally called
visual processing unit (VPU), is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly
manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer
intended for output to a display.
Fig. 3.5 & Fig 3.6 shows the comparison between Adreno 400 and Adreno
500 series
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Fig 3.5 Snapdragon Processors GPU graph
33
3.4 DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
Qualcomm Technologies developed the Hexagon Digital Signal Processor
(DSP) as a world class processor with both CPU and DSP functionality to support
deeply embedded processing needs of the mobile platform for both multimedia
and modem functions. It is an advanced, variable instruction length, Very Long
Instruction Word (VLIW) processor architecture with hardware multi -threading.
The Hexagon architecture and family of cores provides Qualcomm Technologies a
competitive advantage in performance and power efficiency for modem and multi-
media applications and is a key component of all of Qualcomms Snapdragon
processors. [9] Fig 3.7 shows the threading of DSP.
34
Snapdragon DSP Frequency, Process
generation MHz node, nm
S1 600 65
S2 256 45
S3 400 45
S4 500 28
S4 500 28
S4 500 28
S200 384 45 LP
S400 500 28 LP
S600 500 28 LP
S800 600 28 HPm
35
Fig 3.9 Snapdragon Processors DSP comparison graph
3.5 MODEM
Qualcomm Snapdragon LTE Modems deliver fast, smooth, and reliable
voice and data performance to todays smartest devices. With built-in intelligence,
Snapdragon LTE Modems automatically connect to the best available network,
supporting a virtually always-on connection and a rich user experience. Browse,
share, sync, stream and talk from almost anywhere. Advanced connectivity from
Snapdragon enables your device to do more.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem is a Category 12
(downlink)/13 (uplink) LTE cellular modem that supports LTE Advanced Carrier
Aggregation (CA) and higher order modulation, for download speeds of up to 600
Mbps, upload speeds of up to 150 Mbps, CA across TDD and FDD spectrum, LTE
in unlicensed (LTE-U), and LTE+Wi-Fi link aggregation (LWA)
36
Fig 3.10 Snapdragon Processors higher order modulation
Fig. 3.10 shows higher order of modulation.X12 LTE Modem is the first
commercially announced mobile processor to support:
LTE Category 13 uplink speeds of up to 150 Mbps : Thats triple the peak upload
speeds supported by X10 LTE in the Snapdragon 810. Triple. Why? Because
Snapdragon 820 is designed to help you take amazing pictures and videos, and we
want to help you share them even faster with your friends and family. And
because you need high uplink bandwidth to look your best in your next Periscope
broadcast.
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LTE in Unlicensed (LTE-U): Increasing mobile network capacity and user
throughput by aggregating LTE in licensed and unlicensed bands.
Antenna sharing: The X12 supports several antenna sharing schemes between
LTE and Wi-Fi, designed to make it easier for manufacturers to design devices
with advanced technologies like LTE-U, 4x4 LTE MIMO, and 2-stream Wi-Fi,
with attractive form factors and minimal performance impact on either technology.
Security is most important issue in these days. Today's mobile users need
more robust security to address ever-increasing threats to device security and
privacy. And they need that in the form of power-efficient solutions that dont
interfere with the use of their devices. The Qualcomm Haven Security
Solutions suite is designed to provide exactly that: a robust, multidimensional suite
of mobile security technologies, engineered for performance and efficiency in
today's complex mobile environment.
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Why Snapdragon Smart Protect?
End-users and enterprises, along with their devices and data, are under
increasing attack from mobile malware. Thousands of new mobile malware apps
are generated each day. And traditional, signature-based anti-malware apps alone
aren't able to detect and stop all of them.
Personal Protection
Snapdragon Smart Protect is engineered to support robust security and
enhanced personal privacy for today's mobile environment, empowering users
with greater control over their personal data by detecting and classifying a broader
range of spyware, adware and other malicious app behavior.
Power-efficient performance
Snapdragon Smart Protect is made to offer optimal performance through
on-device design and uniquely deep access to the hardware and software of the
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Snapdragon 820 processor, supporting malware detection and critical data
processing on the device, rather than in the cloud. By doing behavioral analysis on
the device, Snapdragon Smart Protect is designed to detect and classify new and
transformed malware quickly and efficiently.[4]
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CHAPTER-4
SNAPDRAGON PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY
1. Semiconductor Technology
2. Instruction Set
41
Fig 4.1 Snapdragon Processors 65nm technology
Example: 65 nm process
Gate length: 30 nm (high-performance) to 50 nm (low-power)
Core voltage: 1.0 V
11 Cu interconnect layers using nano-clustering silica as ultralow k
dielectric (k=2.25)
Metal 1 pitch: 180 nm
Nickel silicide source/drain
Gate oxide thickness: 1.9 nm (n), 2.1 nm (p)
Some Snapdragon Processor S1 are using 65 nm manufacturing technology
45 nanometer (45 nm) technology node should refer to the average half-
pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 20072008 time frame. Many
critical feature sizes are smaller than the wavelength of light used for lithography
(i.e., 193 nm and 248 nm). A variety of techniques, such as larger lenses, are used
to make sub-wavelength features
42
Fig 4.2 Snapdragon Processors 45nm technology
43
Some Snapdragon Processor S1, Snapdragon Processor S2, Snapdragon Processor
S3, Snapdragon Processor S4 and Snapdragon Processor 200 series are using 45
nm manufacturing technology.[4]
44
creating a thin silicon structure, shaped like a fin, which is called agate electrode.
This fin-shaped electrode allows multiple gates to operate on a single transistor.[4]
14LPE Early time-to-market version with area and power benefits for mobility
applications
14LPP Enhanced version with higher performance and lower power; a full
platform offering with MPW, IP enablement and wide application coverage
45
Snapdragon uses following instruction sets
1. ARMv6
2. ARMv7
3. ARMv8
4.2.1 ARMv6
ARMv6 is aimed at the very low end of the 32-bit microcontroller space,
enabling very low gate-count designs with very simple and highly efficient micro
architecture. Several features of ARMv7 are not available to enable this simplicity.
The ARMv6 instruction set is the smallest supported by any ARM processors,
numbering just 57 distinct instructions. With the exception of 6 OS-type
instructions, all are 16-bit.
Privileged execution is an implementation-option (meaning that it may be
included or excluded from the device during the chip design process). This is
referred to as the Unprivileged/Privileged Extension
The SysTick timer is an implementation-option.
The maximum number of external interrupts is limited to 32 and only four
priority levels are available.
Halting debug support is optional.
Memory accesses must always be naturally aligned.
Exclusive accesses are not supported.
The Memory Protection Unit is available as an implementation-option (the
PMSA Extension). It is currently supported only by the Cortex-M0+.
46
4.2.2 ARMv7
ARMv6 ARMv7
Lower IPC((instructions per
1 1 Higher IPC
clocks)
2 Less instructions 2 More complex instruction sets
3 Old design 3 New deisgn
4 Less cache memory 4 More cache memory
5 Thumb-1 extensions 5 Thumb-2 extensions
Architecture has hardware support Armv7 architecture has a "NEON" unit that
6 for double precision floating point 6 provides blindingly fast hardware support
arithmetic for single precision floating point arithmetic
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4.2.3 ARMv8
A32 (or ARM): a 32-bit fixed length instruction set, enhanced through the
different architecture variants. Part of the 32-bit architecture execution
environment now referred to as AArch32.
T32 (Thumb) introduced as a 16-bit fixed-length instruction set,
subsequently enhanced to a mixed-length 16- and 32-bit instruction set on the
introduction of Thumb-2 technology. Part of the 32-bit architecture execution
environment now referred to as AArch32.
A64 is a 64-bit fixed-length instruction set that offers similar functionality
to the ARM and Thumb instruction sets. Introduced with ARMv8-A, it is the
AArch64 instruction set.[13]
48
SN ARMv7 ARMv8
Full supports both 32-bit and 16-bit Full native 32-bit execution, side-by-side
1
instructions, not support for 64-bit with 64-bit
New, modern, A64 instruction set
2 Old 32-bit architecture
architecture (ISA)
3 only regular registers are available Double the number (and size) of registers
4 instructions for 16-bit and 32-bit New instructions for both A32 and A64
5 complex instruction set Cleaner instruction set architecture
6 no acceleration is available Up to 16x crypto acceleration
7 not support for big.LITTLE technology Fits well with big.LITTLE technology
8 supports thumb-2 T32 thumb is introduced
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