Industry Expert Blogs

In the Arm CPU cluster, the Cortex-A700 and Cortex-A500 series CPUs perform vital functions to enable the experiences that users enjoy on their consumer devices. The Cortex-A700 series of CPUs is a hugely successful product range used across a broad range of application and markets: set-top boxes (STBs) and DTVs, smartwatch and XR wearables, smartphones and laptops. Acting as the ‘workhorse’ in the cluster, Cortex-A700 CPUs push high performance in a constrained power envelope. Meanwhile, Cortex-A500 CPUs deliver the best energy and power efficiency in the smallest silicon footprint.

This year we are delighted to launch two new products to add to both product series: the Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 CPUs. Both products, which are built on the new Armv9.2 architecture, enable Armv9 computing capabilities across all tiers of consumer devices. Integrating both CPUs with the new DynamIQ Shared Unit, the DSU-120, provides intelligent power-saving features, enhanced PPA and even greater scalability. This enables the CPU clusters featuring Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 to reach high levels of performance, efficiency, and scalability.

Even in the lower tiers of consumer devices (mainstream and entry), there is a greater demand for more advanced computing capabilities for the seamless experiences that users now expect. As the hub of the smart home, STBs and DTVs need greater performance for streaming services, as well as the ability to secure data through more advanced security features. Mid-range and entry-level smartphones are now seeing the rapid adoption of 5G, providing advanced connectivity capabilities for users to enjoy their favorite applications ‘on-the-go’. Developers also expect that their applications can be written and then run on any mobile device, not just premium, and flagship smartphones.

Against this backdrop of emerging use cases and increasing user demands across all consumer device markets, we are providing improvements in performance, efficiency, and features through Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520. This gives our partners the flexibility to build the right ‘big.LITTLE’ CPU clusters for their portfolio of devices.

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