Heads up Apple, here comes 64-bit Android on Intel

Apple’s A7 chips will feel some 64-bit heat from Intel and Android next year. 
 

Intel is readying a 64-bit Bay Trail Atom platform for Android, according to Hermann Eul, Intel’s general manager, mobile and communications group, speaking at the company’s investor day on Thursday.

“It’s not only about Windows 64-bit, we’ve been talking about Android as well,” Eul said.

An assistant then proceeded to demo on stage “the first ever showing of a 64-bit kernel running on Bay Trail with Android.”

Eul continued. “We have 64-bit Windows shipping next quarter and, needless to say, we’ll run fast to make this happen on Android as well.”

Intel’s Bay Trail processor — which is currently powering a growing number of tablets and 2-in-1 devices from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo — today is 64-bit but runs Windows 8.1 in 32-bit mode. That will be rectified next quarter when Bay Trail tablets run in full 64-bit Windows 8.1 mode.