ARM's Cortex-A7 CPU will improve smartphone battery life

Chip makers ARM have introduced the new Cortex-A7 processor, claiming it’s so efficient that it can boost smartphone battery life considerably.

Built using a 28nm process, entry-level smartphones will see the biggest improvements, with ARM boasting that cheaper smartphones may be able to go as much as 5 times longer without needing a charge.

A powerful chip, it’ll also be affordable, meaning we may be able to see phones powerful enough to be considered high-end today costing less than $100 if they use the chip.

ARM president Simon Segars also introduced big.LITTLE processing.

An advancement in “system-on-a-chip” (SoC) technology, , big.LITTLE processing uses two different processors working together on a SoC. Here, the Cortex A7 runs operating system tasks, while more demanding tasks migrate to a more powerful processor in 20 microseconds.

“One of today’s technology’s most significant challenges is how to create a SoC that meets the conflicting consumer demand for devices with both higher-performance and extended battery life,” said Segars.

“Big.LITTLE processing, enabled by Cortex-A7, achieves this by pairing the best of the high-performance Cortex-A15 MPCore and ultra-efficient Cortex-A7 processors.”

Expect to see gadgets using ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs by 2013.