Arm architecture

Unlike the old Intel x86 processors used in Macs before 2020, these chips would still be Apple-designed Arm-based silicon, with Intel acting only as a foundry while TSMC continues to handle the bulk of M-series production. If you're familiar with the 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 that powers the Samsung Wave and Galaxy S including the new Archos Android tablets, then it's going to be easy to imagine what a dual Cortex-A15 running up to 2.5GHz would look like.

Samsung also announced a few days ago that they're shipping their new dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 1GHz starting 4th quarter of this year. ARM's dual-core Cortex-A15 MPCore can reach clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz and should be available by 2012. For the meantime, expect a lot of new smartphones and tablet to run the top-of-the-line ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz and possibly new Android smartphones from Samsung running their dual-core Cortex-A9 that's capable of full HD 1080p playback.

Our coverage of Arm architecture includes: "Apple may tap Intel again to manufacture future M-series Mac chips"; "OnePlus Watch Lite now official"; "ARM announces 2.5GHz Cortex-A15 MPCore". Each article provides unique insights and information.