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This is my first question in stackexchange community. And i'm sure that my questions will find suitable answers here, thank you guys in advance.

I'm really curious about the mobile hardware platforms, and i can see that the market contains a lot of manufaturers and processor systems, from which i can count:

  1. Samsung Electronics: Exynos® (5)
  2. Qualcomm: Snapdragon® (S4 - Krait)
  3. Nvidia: Tegra® (4)
  4. Texas Instruments: OMAP® (4470)
  5. Apple: A5X®

(in brackets the latest platforms' versions released/rumored as i know). Now my questions are:

  1. Do these parties develop/manufacture/integrate/...etc the common ARM® processors' architectures and distribute/ship them as end-user handsets processors?
  2. Can any body clarify the business relationships between these companies?
  3. What are the graphics controllers compatible/used with each system (i.e: PowerVR SGX series, ...etc.)

Any additional data (regarding market shares, systems' block diagrams, latest products) will be appreciated. THANKS.

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Unsuitable question. It should be closed. – Leon Heller Apr 6 '12 at 19:46
Why it is unsuitable? Where should i ask it? – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 19:50
Read the FAQ, it's all there. – Leon Heller Apr 6 '12 at 20:20
Read the FAQ, how to delete my question? – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 20:29
I think superuser is a better place for this question. – jippie Dec 20 '12 at 21:11

closed as off topic by Kaz, Brian Carlton, Olin Lathrop, Dave Tweed, jippie Dec 20 '12 at 21:11

Questions on Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange are expected to relate to electronics design within the scope defined in the FAQ. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about closed questions here.

2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

1ARM is a processor core alone - it consists of something like Verilog or VHDL that describes the logic of the processor core. While ARM designs the processor, they don't make chips - you can't go the ARM website, click on 'shop' and get a brand new ARM microcontroller chip - it just doesn't exist.

1) ARM sells its processor designs to other companies. Those companies take processor design and integrate it with a whole buncha other components onto one System On Chip. So each of the manufacturers you mentioned have chips with ARM cores, but different peripherals. Apple doesn't make its living selling microcontrollers - they integrate every possible peripheral (processor, display adapter, memory, ethernet controller, you name it!) on to one piece of silicon and put it in an iPad, iPhone, etc. Companies like TI make general-purpose processors to fill a variety of niches - all with ARM processor cores and different peripherals. Then they sell it direct to you.

2 )The business relationships probably involve large amounts of cash from companies like TI and Apple to ARM, with processor designs coming from ARM to the other companies.

3) Widely varies. There's no graphics processor compatible with a TI Stellaris LM3S6432 - it's a Cortex M3-based microcontroller. Other, more capable processors probably have a wide variety of compatibility, but there's so many ARM chips out there there's no sense in me even trying to compile a list.

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AngryEE, that's exactly what i'm asking for. Thanks for sharing. – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 20:37
So how much do you think it will cost you to bye a Cortex-M15 VHDL file & manufacture the AngryEE® ARM© Processor. LOOOL. – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 20:40
@AwadallaSalahElDin In all seriousness, it is certainly over US$1million but could be higher than US$10million-- plus per chip royalties. – David Kessner Apr 6 '12 at 20:58
@David Kessner It should be a high price, which explains that these major companies donot want to expend on developing their own uProcessor architecture. – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 21:25
I shoul try to build ACM (Advanced CISC Machine) in contrast to Advanced RISC Machine (ARM®) - & of course i'll give you a good price David ;) – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 21:27
up vote 1 down vote

All of these companies license the technology for the CPU's from ARM, then add their own stuff and make the chips. But to directly answer your questions:

  1. Those companies, and others, integrate the ARM CPU's into their own chips. What they integrate and how they sell it depends on what they think will make them money. They are not always sold as processors for phones.

  2. They all sell chips based on ARM processors. That's it. We can't say anything more without getting lawyers involved.

  3. You can look it up yourself just as easily as we can.

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Thanks David, good to know what you have written. – Awadalla SalahElDin Apr 6 '12 at 20:36

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