Mobile processor design company ARM, during its Tech Day event, predicts that the cost of single-core smartphones will soon drop to the $20 level.
According to AnandTech, the prediction concerns models that will likely use the single-core Cortex A5 processor. In fact, ARM believes that such a price drop will occur within the next few months.
Smartphones in this category will have to drastically reduce installed RAM and other technical features in order to limit the selling price. However, as ARM itself points out, a current single-core processor like the Cortex A5 is clearly faster than the ARM11 that powered the first-generation iPhone in 2007, which cost $599.
More generally, ARM predicts that the mobile phone market will gradually shift from high-end devices to mid-range and entry-level devices, i.e. devices with medium and low technical characteristics. The company estimates that by 2018, more than a billion entry-level devices, i.e. devices costing up to $150, will be sold. This forecast means a doubling of the devices in this category that are sold today.
Finally, the company also released a series of performance estimates for its upcoming 64-bit Cortex A53 and A57 processors. Processors based on these architectures will be up to 1.5 times faster than Cortex A7 and A15 models. The first models based on the Cortex A53 and A57 architectures will appear in 2014.
