Apple vs Samsung: South Korean Smartphone Maker Will Shift to 64-bit Processors

It's only been a couple days since Apple announced the new iPhone 5S, the first smartphone to feature a processor with 64-bit architecture, and already, Samsung has announced its next mobile devices will follow suit.

Samsung announced its shift in processor design to South Korean media. Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung Electronic's co-chief executive, was questioned by the Korea Times and responded "Not in the shortest time," going on to say, "But yes, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing functionality."

Apple claimed that the iPhone 5S's 64-bit A7 chip was up to the standards of "desktop-class architecture," according to BBC News. Apple's new chip packs in over a billion transistors, roughly double that of the A6 chip in about the same microprocessor real estate, which Apple claims will make the new premium iPhone twice as fast as its predecessor, the iPhone 5, and up to 40 times faster than the original iPhone.

In theory, a 64-bit processor can process a set of instructions several folds more complicated than current mobile processors, meaning that the sky's the limit for how complex and process-intensive mobile apps and games can get (except, of course, the limit of battery performance).

Experts and critics, meanwhile, are generally skeptical whether the 64-bit processor will deliver a noticeably faster or smoother experience. CNET's Rick Broida put it this way: "Remember how in the early days of desktop computing, we all chased faster and faster processors, then stopped caring because they got fast enough? That's how I feel about smartphone processors."

However, with Android mega-giant Samsung signing on to the new processor architecture, it doesn't matter what the skeptics say.

This could be a headache for app developers and Google, maker of Android, because, so far, 32-bit architecture has been the standard for software development. And while 64-bit devices, like the iPhone 5S, can be designed to be somewhat backwards-compatible, running software with instruction sets designed for 32-bit chips means that those apps don't take advantage of the processor's full power. (Anyone who got a new AMD 64 computer chip in the early 2000's will remember this annoyance.)

The most likely early adopters of 64-bit processing will be mobile game developers and app makers whose software already pushes the limits of mobile processing power; It was no coincidence that Infinity Blade 3 was the first piece of non-Apple software showcased on the new iPhone.

Once enough app developers start making apps for 64-bit processors - and in Samsung's case, this would only come after Google redesigns Android for 64-bit processors - the ball will get rolling and 64-bit architecture may become the next standard. That's because, while at first it makes sense to write for 32-bit processors and opt out of higher performance on 64-bit processors, eventually all of the top smartphones you want your app to run on will be running it half as well as they could be.

Whenever the tipping point comes, the de facto software development standards will have to change. And with both Apple and Samsung moving in that direction - dragging the rest of the industry behind it by pure force of marketing gravity - there's no doubt that the tipping point will surely come.