Apple: Beginning February 2015, App Store submissions need to be 64-bit

[AlTech]

Source : http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/apple-beginning-february-2015-app-store-submissions-need-to-be-64-bit/

 

 

 

 

I wish Google was as strict about mandating things like this so the industry can go forward ):  Anyone know if the K1 on the Nexus 9 is 64-bit?  Not too knowledgeable about Tegras

It is (look at their website). It. The Denver cores

[AlTech]

The K1 is a 64-bit processor. 

 

Anyways, this is interesting, but not necessarily surprising. They have to push 64-bit somehow, and this is definitely a good way of doing so.

There are 2 variants. 1 32 bit variant and a 64 bit variant

[AlTech]

Higher performance comes from newer cpu designs and not architecture.

[LAwLz]

Higher performance comes from newer cpu designs and not architecture.

CPU design and architecture are synonyms.

[Trik'Stari]

IE 9? We're on like, IE 11 (not to mention, it's IE)

I've actually had less problems day to day with IE than I currently have had with zilla and chrome. Sure you get the occasional virus, but as far as actually working IE is still faster for me than zilla or chrome. Chrome was fast for like the first day or 2, since then it's slowed down for some reason.

[BallGum]

The problem is that Nexus devices make up a very very small percentage of Android OS's. ARM already has 64-bit SoC's, and flagship devices will start to ship with them. I imagine that most flagship Android devices released in 2015 will have a 64-bit SoC.

 

However, Flagship devices are a pretty small section of the market. So to make it a requirement that all new apps are compiled for 64-bit, means that either:

1. You'll need to provide 32-bit backwards compatibility or emulation (Much like Windows does - I assume that 64-bit Android does this? I cannot confirm though) OR

2. You'll have 90% of your customer base unable to use new Apps.

 

Hopefully, # 1 is already true though.

 

I do think that pushing 64-bit is the way to go, but the problem with Android is because the device market is so fragmented, there's very little incentive for app devs to do this.

 

I think there is a low end snapdragon (I believe it is the 410) that is designed for budget devices that is 64bit capable. Hopefully more SoC's like this will help push for 64 bit capability in the lower end of Android. Till then, I wonder if allowing developers to include two versions of their app will help? Then the play store itself can identify your device and serve up the correct version for you to install. 

[dalekphalm]

Higher performance comes from newer cpu designs and not architecture.

wh.... wha..... what?

 

What you said doesn't make sense. New CPU designs ARE new architectures. They are synonymous and directly interrelated. For example:

Intel Sandy Bridge vs Intel Haswell. Haswell is a new CPU design with a new architecture.

 

New architecture is CRUCIAL to improved performance. A single architecture can only be pushed so far - generally you'll get one, maybe two generations of CPU designs out of it before having to create a new architecture or heavily modify the old one (thus still creating a new architecture).

[dalekphalm]

I think there is a low end snapdragon (I believe it is the 410) that is designed for budget devices that is 64bit capable. Hopefully more SoC's like this will help push for 64 bit capability in the lower end of Android. Till then, I wonder if allowing developers to include two versions of their app will help? Then the play store itself can identify your device and serve up the correct version for you to install. 

Hopefully this will be the way forward. Google needs to get Qualcomm and others to push 64-bit SoC's to all levels of devices before they can really make the switch. Unlike Apple, Google survives on their low-end devices. High end devices like the HTC One M8 and similar make up a small portion of Android devices.

[LAwLz]

I think there is a low end snapdragon (I believe it is the 410) that is designed for budget devices that is 64bit capable. Hopefully more SoC's like this will help push for 64 bit capability in the lower end of Android. Till then, I wonder if allowing developers to include two versions of their app will help? Then the play store itself can identify your device and serve up the correct version for you to install. 

Yeah Qualcomm will push 64bit quite hard. I think all of their upcoming Snapdragon series are 64bit enabled.

Snapdragon 410 - Quad core A53 and Adreno 306.

Snapdragon 610 - Quad core A53 and Adreno 405 (hardware accelerated HEVC).

Snapdragon 615 - Octa core A53 and Adreno 405 (hardware accelerated HEVC).

All of them have a 64bit memory interface, 802.11ac integrated and LTE cat 4 integrated. All of them are 28nm LP.

 

On the high end we get:

Snapdragon 808 - Dual core A57 + quad core A53 and Adreno 418.

Snapdragon 810 - Quad core A57 + quad core A53 and Adreno 430 (HEVC encoding).

These ones got LTE cat7 modems, 64bit memory interface, (no integrated WiFi modem), HEVC decoding and are made with 20nm transistors.

 

 

With a bit of luck we will see MediaTek and and Samsung move all their products to the A5# series as well, and when that happens it shouldn't take many years before ~90% of the market are using 64bit devices.

[Kherm]

I've actually had less problems day to day with IE than I currently have had with zilla and chrome. Sure you get the occasional virus, but as far as actually working IE is still faster for me than zilla or chrome. Chrome was fast for like the first day or 2, since then it's slowed down for some reason.

Yeah, I have to admit, I use ie for almost everything except for ltt (because of the plugins) and streaming video. It is much much better than it once was

[razor767]

I guess this has to happen at some point.