"Allwinner launches $5 quad-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor for tablets"

[TopWargamer]

Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/allwinner-launches-5-quad-core-64-bit-cortex-a53-processor-tablets-579202/

 

You more than likely haven't heard of the Chinese mobile chip manufacturer Allwinner before, but there's a good reason for that - they haven't made much of a dent worldwide. They're a popular chip manufacturer for Chinese branded tablets.

 

So now since you know a little bit about Allwinner, it's time for you to learn about their new chip - the A64. The A64 is a quad core, 64-bit SoC that comes with built in support for h264 and h265 at 4K. The A64 uses four Cortex-A53 cores, which are ARM's most energy efficient cores to date, albeit no clock speed has been listed yet.

 

Along with everything above, the A64 supports various DDR memory types, which will make the BOM cost more competitive, supports eMMC 5.0, which provides better IO pefromance and enhanced data throughput capacity, supports Allwinner SmartColor display technology for more vivid colors, supports Android 5.0 Lollipop and Linux kernel 3.10, and finally it has ARM's Trusted Firmware security support.

 

Wow, that's actually super impressive for a SoC. But wait, there's more! This chip will only cost phone/tablet manufacturers $100 $50 $25 $10 $5! Five. Freaking. Dollars. This chip is powerful, can playback 4K video, and basically has ARM's seal of approval (see last part of the previous paragraph). This chip is going to bring us powerful but super cheap tablets in the very near future.

 

I'm extremely curious as to when the chip will be made available and how nuch phones/tablets running the chip will go for. And of course, I want to see some benchmarks!

 

[terrytek]

Damn, that's one cheap CPU. Wonder the performance against major competitors.

[LukaP]

A53 cores tho... i guess for 5$ its great, but that wont have it winning any great designs

[Levent]

lol cheaper than pack of cigars.

[Laputacake]

Cheaper than fish and chips

[AlwaysFSX]

What's the downside? There's always a catch.

[Toddwjp]

could i get a 16 core for $20?? because that could be a useful chip

[terrytek]

What's the downside? There's always a catch.

Performance.

[AlwaysFSX]

Performance.

Unless it's slower than my phone, I'm fine with it.

[qwertywarrior]

Allwinner is HUGE im sure many know them here

 

tinkerers love them because of their low cost and open sourced stuff

this is awesome news for me ive been waiting for a faster soc from them

[Guest]

Cheaper than fish and chips

Well, duh! It's only a single chip and doesn't come with fish.

[Plasma]

how is this possible the material cost is higher then $5, there must be some kind of chinese government subsidies to increase market share of chinese products.

[Lazmarr]

how is this possible the material cost is higher then $5, there must be some kind of chinese government subsidies to increase market share of chinese products.

Material cost only comes into account when buying singular components. When companies purchase in bulk the per item cost is reduced; a $5 chip would probably cost something like $1.25 to manufacture including the price of components.

[pdv789]

I'm sure, no proof, that this must be an extremely low clock speed because of poor quality in material. That has to be the only way to justify such cheap material. But still, only $5!!!! These tablets should be SUPER cheap, I don't care but I will be buying one if they are sub $200, just to see how they truly perform. I'm not really one for the tablet market but damn, this is one thing I do not want to pass up. I would like to say I own one of those $5 cpus and hopefully say they weren't bad at all.

[Guest DollarPC]

Not much of a predecessor to me...

[McMurderMonkey]

Not bad for $5. But then again, I'm sure most people I know would save up more to get something better, but this is good for those in third world countries.

[Deli]

What's the downside? There's always a catch.

Instead of NSA, this chip will have backdoor opened for Chinese Cyber warfare agencies.

[mymouthandi]

Stick this on a cheap dev board like the rasp pi and it could be interesting.

[Me1z]

I want like 8 of these on a single board so I can build compact, low power BOINC boxes. You could just plug them in where ever there's free wifi. There should be one in every home and all the points will go to LTT's Team 

[Tedster]

I want like 8 of these on a single board so I can build compact, low power BOINC boxes. You could just plug them in where ever there's free wifi. There should be one in every home and all the points will go to LTT's Team 

Nice idea.

[christianled59]

The pizzas I make at work cost more than this.