ARM fills out CPU lineup with Cortex A5

October 22nd, 2009

ARM has filled out its burgeoning Cortex A family of processors with a new addition at the bottom end of the lineup, the newly announced Cortex A5. The A5 is intended to replace the ARM9 and ARM11 parts commonly found in everything from smartphones to the Nintendo DS, and as such, it’s not exactly a barn-burner in performance. But then again, it doesn’t have to be, because A5’s focus is on providing support for the full range of A-profile features in the smallest possible power envelope. In other words, A5 supports the full range of ARMv7 ISA extensions and Cortex A features, so binaries that are compiled for A8 and A9 will run on A5 (albeit much more slowly). And, like its other A-profile siblings, A5 comes in single- and multi-core flavors.

To help put the A5 in perspective, let’s take a moment to summarize ARM’s present lineup as it stands as of today.