3 ms·
Another example might be this Cortex-X3 being the first in ARM's X line to drop the 32 bit ISA, where Apple had dropped that in the A11. That gave Apple severa
by tyingq 4y ago
Another example might be this Cortex-X3 being the first in ARM's X line to drop the 32 bit ISA, where Apple had dropped that in the A11. That gave Apple several iterations to take advantage of whatever simplifications or reclaimed transistor budget came from dropping it.
Edit: Small miss above...Cortex-X2 dropped aarch32, though that's 2021 versus Apple doing it in 2017 with the A11, so the overall point is the same.
- kramerger 4y agoHasn't aarch32 always been optional in armv8? I mean, technically you can emulate it in software. It was simply no market for solo aarch64 before, since a lot of costumers wanted the backup of having aarch32 compatibility.
- gsnedders 4y agoCortex-X2 dropped A32 & T32.
- tyingq 4y agoAh...yep, I was was wrong there. Though still much later than the Apple/A11...2017 vs 2021. What the article says on this topic: "The process of eliminating 32-bit and optimizing for the 64-bit ISA exclusively has been a 2-step process. With the Cortex-X2, the underlying circuitry used for handling 32-bit architectural-related elements was removed, saving on transistors and simplifying some structures. With the new Cortex-X3, the design team took the time to start optimizing specifically for AArch64."