Intel criticizes ‘slow’ ARM processor of the iPhone

The ARM processor is responsible for a number of shortcomings of the iPhone, claims Intel. According to the chip manufacturer, smartphones with an ARM CPU are generally not that smart.

Apple itself isn’t to blame for the iPhone’s flaws, but ARM is, Pankaj Kedia of Intel’s ultramobility division told the Intel Developer Forum in Taiwan. The comment follows his colleague Shane Wall’s claim that “running whatever application needs that horsepower” on the iPhone causes hiccups.

However, according to Kedia, it’s not just about the iPhone: “Today’s smartphone isn’t very ‘smart’. The problem is they have ARM CPUs.” Good mobile internet requires an Intel-based architecture, Wall says added that Intel CPUs deliver two to three times the performance of comparable ARM processors. Intel would also be two years ahead of ARM. At the beginning of this year, ARM director Warren East admitted that Intel was better able than his own company to develop faster processors. East, however, also said that ARM is well ahead of Intel in developing energy-efficient chips.

Intel showed Monday a prototype of a mobile internet device with a Lincroft-soc, which is formed by combining a 45nm CPU, a GPU, a memory controller and a video encoder/decoder. However, a concrete product based on Lincroft is not expected until 2009 or 2010. Incidentally, Intel itself has invested heavily in the ARM architecture in the past with its Xscale variant, which was acquired by Marvell in 2006.