We have reached the turn of the tide in mobile computing. ARM's new v8 architecture is unleashed. Before, the transition between ARMv6 and ARMv7 was in the era when Symbian phones were most used. Most phones had an ARM 11 core. After that came the Cortex A-8 which was popularized via the Samsung Galaxy S and the iPhone 4. Now again we are at the helm of architectural change.

Next-gen Mobile Chipsets Analyzed

Snapdragon 805

Qualcomm recently announced its latest SOC, the Snapdragon 805. According to the fact sheet, the 805 will sport next generation 'Krait' 450 cores. The GPU has received a major boost, nearly a 40% improvement over the older Adreno 330, it is also the first of its kind to support Directx 11. The new Krait cores will challenge ARM's own Cortex A-57. Hardware tessellation and geometry shaders are also supported via DX11. The Snapdragon 800 was a monster of a SOC, this takes the competition to a whole new level.

Samsung Exynos 6

Not much is known about the chipset which will most probably be featured in the upcoming Galaxy S5. It is confirmed that it will use 64 bit cores to counter the Apple's A7. According to reports, the Exynos 6 will use the big.Little setup of cores. Four cortex A-57's will handle the hardwork while four A-53's will kick in to save power. Maybe Samsung will utilize the Snapdragon 805 in it's next flagship. Maybe it will utilize both the 805 and its exynos like it did with the Galaxy S4.

Tegra 5

The Tegra 4 was a capable chipset, however it was not endorsed by many manufacturers and therefore it's utilization was quite low. The Tegra 5 was seen running PC games such as battlefield 3 back in July, this is probably a big feat for Nvidia. Since Tegra's have been utilizing ARM's cores since the Tegra 2, Tegra 5 may also use the ARM A-57 in a four or eight core configuration. The main focus however is the graphics.

LG Odin

LG recently announced that it will start making it's own chipsets. The new SOC by LG codenamed Odin will feature the MALI T-604 and four Cortex A-15's, this is surprising since future chipsets are moving on to the new cortex A-57's. Another tier of the chipset will feature the big.Little configuration of A-15's and A-7's. LG has chosen the MALI T-760 GPU to be used in their premium octa-core chipset.

Comparing Next-Gen GPU Performance

This chart briefly shows the performance of some current gen and some next gen GPU's. The new Adreno 420 is about 40% more powerful than the Adreno 330. Also note that PowerVR and Mali can upscale and downscale cores to change performance, not to mention all manufacturers can alter clocks on same models.

Although most of these are speculations, we can see wondrous things in the near future. Apple's A8 chipset and Samsung manufacturing its  own cores being two of them. Mediatek and other chinese manufacturers will keep pushing their products into the mid-range zone. Mediatek's octa-core entry into the high end market was quite late. I believe there is some stiff competition ahead, and within a few years time mobile computing will have grown to be quite powerful. Which SOC do u think is the best?