ARM, ARM64 or x86, how to know what type of processor your phone has

As we all know, a processor is an integrated electronic circuit that performs various calculations such as arithmetic, logic, input/output (I/O), and other necessary instructions that are transmitted by an operating system (SO).

Similarly, in a smartphone, the processor performs operations that provide all the system functionality necessary to support the applications of a device that also includes memory management, graphic processing, and multimedia decoding. All these operations together help to determine the operating speed of a device. Therefore, the processor must run at a high speed.

In Android phones, the processor is a system on a chip (SoC) designed to support various applications running in a mobile operating system environment. Ideally, an SoC consists of a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), modem, multimedia processor, safety device, and signal processor.

The other day I was trying to download a custom ROM for my Android phone, but in the download section, I found more options that created some confusion in my mind. The options indicated custom ROMs based on the processor type of Android phones.

Until then, I thought that custom ROMs could be installed on a particular device regardless of the processor it runs. But I was wrong. You must know what type of processor your smartphone has to ensure that you download the correct files for it.

When installing apps from the Google Play Store, there is no need to check the compatibility of the processor with that app. Android automatically installs the app compatible with your phone’s processor.

ARM, ARM64, and x86

Android supports three main CPU architectures- ARM, ARM64, and x86.

• ARM indicates devices running the 32-bit operating system.

• ARM64 indicates devices that run the 64-bit operating system.

• x86 indicates devices that are powered by AMD and Intel.

As technology progresses, new CPU architecture models are followed in processor development. Among the three, ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) is one of the most famous and is mainly seen on many Android smartphones. Devices built with the ARM processor are primarily useful for improving battery consumption, and it is optimized mostly for the battery.

ARM64 is the evolution of the ARM processor. ARM64 architecture supports 64-bit processing, which makes your device fluid and fasts. Today, most phones rely on ARM64 architecture due to its powerful computing.

If you want speed, x86 is the processor you need. But the biggest drawback is battery consumption. Compared to the ARM processor, x86 consumes more battery. This may be the main reason why we haven’t seen many devices with the x86 processor.

The main difference between the ARM and x6 processors is that ARM follows a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) architecture, while x86 processors follow a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) architecture. This means that ARM is relatively simple, and instructions can be executed in one clock cycle. While in x86, the instructions are mostly complex and therefore require multiple CPU cycles to execute a single instruction.

Since the ARM64 architecture is compatible with previous versions, ARM (32-bit) applications are compatible with ARM64 devices. But it is not possible to install ARM64-based apps on the ARM device.

Here’s how to know what type of processor your Android phone has. ARM, ARM64, or x86?

Download:

Download the Droid Hardware Info app.

Install the Droid Hardware Info app.

This app will give you complete information about the CPU architecture of your Android phone.

Once the app has been downloaded, launch it.

It will show you the full details of the device, as shown below.

Then click on the System tab. The System tab will show you all the details of your Android phone’s processor, including CPU architecture, Chipset, Clock speed, Instruction set, running processes, and much more. But outside of these, only two of them are of interest to you – CPU Architecture and Instruction Sets.

Now what you need to do is simply match the information you wrote down earlier with the table we provided below. This will tell you exactly which processor your Android phone has.