cortexa

Cortex-A is a family of processor cores designed by ARM Holdings (now Arm Limited) for use as application processors in system-on-chips (SoCs). The cores are intended for high-performance tasks in mobile devices, tablets, embedded systems, and other consumer electronics. Cortex-A cores are licensed to semiconductor companies who integrate them with other components to create complete SoCs.

Design and features: Cortex-A cores implement the ARM architecture’s A-profile and have evolved from 32-bit ARMv7-A through 64-bit ARMv8-A, enabling execution in both AArch32 and AArch64 states. Many Cortex-A designs feature out-of-order execution, multi-issue pipelines, and support for advanced features such as Neon SIMD, VFP, virtualization extensions, and TrustZone security. Modern cores commonly support big.LITTLE heterogeneous configurations, pairing power-efficient “little” cores with higher-performance “big” cores to balance performance and energy use.

Licensing and ecosystem: ARM licenses Cortex-A cores to a wide range of manufacturers, who integrate them into their own SoCs. This licensing model underpins the cores’ ubiquity in mobile devices and other consumer electronics, with major products from numerous vendors incorporating Cortex-A cores.

History and impact: The Cortex-A line began with early cores such as Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9, and gained 64-bit support with ARMv8-A, implemented in Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57–style designs. Since then, subsequent generations have focused on improving performance per watt, security, and scalability, enabling higher smartphone performance and longer battery life across diverse devices.