Allwinner already announced H64 octa-core Cortex A53 processor for OTT boxes together with Nobel64 development board in the last quarter of last year, and the Chinese silicon manufacturer has now introduced Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor for entry-level tablets, as the processor will only cost $5 per unit in large quantities.
As usual, Allwinner only provided a subset of information for their first announcement, and some technical details like the GPU are unknown.
Key features listed for Allwinner A64:
- 64-bit Cortex-A53 architecture
- Supports H.265/H.264 video decoding in hardware, and supports HDMI 4K display
- Supports various DDR memory types, making the BOM cost more competitive
- Supports eMMC 5.0 for better IO performance and enhanced data throughput capacity
- Allwinner SmartColor display technology for more vivid and eye-pleasing visual experience
- Supports Trusted Firmware security architecture from ARM
The company is finally moving to a device tree enabled kernel with Linux 3.10, and Allwinner 64-bit ARM tablets will also run Android 5.0 Lollipop. Hopefully, this processor implements proper H.265 hardware decoding, not GPU accelerated decoding as in Allwinner A80 processor. Interestingly neither Allwinner A64, nor Rockchip RK3368 announced recently, support VP9, despite it being the codec of choice for YouTube 2160p content.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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A $5 Quad Core 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 SoC? Impressive. So … an opportunity for a sub-99USD 64-bit SBC?
@Sander
It could be, but some tablet chips are not really suited to SBC, e.g. Allwinner A23/A33, at least because there’s no Ethernet PHY. Or maybe Nobel64 board won’t be expensive after all.
@cnxsoft
No ethernet support in the SoC really isn’t an issue for an SBC. There are quite a few SBC boards which have their ethernet support as an external chip hooked up to USB
@sjoerd
You’re right. I did not think it through. I guess the lack of HDMI might be more problematic, although you should also be able to add a display via USB port, but it might start not being cost effective.
For what quantities would this SoC cost $5? Even if in the ballpark what would be your best guess?
How Can I get the data sheet of A64 of Allwinner?
@Hersh
I have no idea, so I asked Allwinner. Waiting for an answer.
@Jade
Documentation will eventually show up after devices start selling.
Otherwise, you could contact Allwinner to get the SDK (It might require volume purchase commitment).
@cnxsoft
For me it’s the opposite. I don’t care a dime about HDMI, however for me, USB-attached ethernet is exactly equivalent to no ethernet at all. Too slow, too high latency, unreliable. It’s just OK to SSH into the board but will never be usable to build anything looking like a server. That’s why I’ve never bought any ODROID board.