ARM preps Cortex-A Kingfisher for low-cost smartphones

"The Kingfisher is aimed at lower end smartphones and feature phones and cost-sensitive digital TV applications. It is an A-class processor, a small Cortex A-class processor," said Warren East, chief executive officer of ARM, at a conference with financial analysts.

Smartphones have traditionally been expensive products for people requiring a lot of features from their mobile devices. But as the demands of general consumers grow, manufacturers of smartphones start to make inexpensive versions of smartphones for those, who does not want to get a handset with a hefty price-tag, but want something more than a phone. In the coming years the market of such cell phones will grow rapidly, according to analysts. Many chip designers are already developing their system-on-chip products for such phones. But ARM wants to tailor the architecture itself for inexpensive smartphones.