Technical Articles
2025-01-06

The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470

  • Introduction: An Industry Pioneer Rarer than a ’10-Core’
Recently, we at Sanyi Life reviewed several models equipped with MediaTek’s 10-core CPU chips and re-tested these older phones using 2022’s testing software.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
At that time, we pointed out that while the design concept of ’10-core’ may have been misled by market competition, these flagship products did not show a significant performance gap in GPU performance and daily light-load experiences compared to today’s mid-range and low-end 5G SoCs.
More importantly, with the Helio X30 (MT6799) SoC, MediaTek actually introduced a ‘tri-cluster’ design years ahead of the industry, combining Cortex-A35, Cortex-A53, and Cortex-A73 CPU architectures. Although the effectiveness is debatable, the concept successfully anticipated the design direction of future mobile SoCs.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
However, if we must say, MediaTek was not the first to ‘predict’ the future design direction of SoCs. As early as 2011, the mobile industry welcomed a ‘miraculous’ processor that first proposed the design concept of heterogeneous big.LITTLE cores during the nascent era of dual-core and quad-core designs.
Moreover, this mobile processor not only adopted a ‘big.LITTLE’ design for its CPU but also featured a dual-architecture, dual-core GPU. Even by today’s standards, this is undoubtedly an extremely bold idea.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
This is what we at Sanyi Life will explore today—the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470.
  • Texas Instruments: Once the King of Smartphone Chips
When mentioning Texas Instruments (TI), some friends may find it quite unfamiliar. But if we rewind to over a decade ago, Texas Instruments was the undisputed ‘king’ in the smartphone chip field, especially for high-end models.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
For example, TI’s OMAP 750 and OMAP 850 were long used by HTC as the chip solution for its high-end Windows Mobile models. Even when Qualcomm’s MSM7201 solution began to rise, we could still see HTC’s new models using these chips.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
Additionally, TI’s OMAP1710 and OMAP2430 processors shone brightly in Nokia’s N-series flagship Symbian devices. Notably, the OMAP2430 with a 3D accelerator (PowerVR MBX Lite) was a top-tier chip used only in high-end models like the N93i and N95, while other high-end models often lacked such specifications.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
Not to mention in the early stages of Android, the Motorola milestone based on OMAP 3630, the first-generation Defy, and the Motorola RAZR MAXX and Samsung Galaxy Nexus based on OMAP 4430/4460 were all classic products.
However, the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 we are testing today is, in some sense, even more special than the classic processors mentioned above.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
On one hand, this is because it proposed the concept of ‘heterogeneous big.LITTLE’ as early as 2011, two years ahead of the industry’s first widely recognized ‘4+4’ big.LITTLE CPU design, the Samsung Exynos 5410.
On the other hand, the OMAP 4470 was TI’s ‘swan song’ in mobile devices. Just a year after the OMAP 4470 was released in 2012, TI officially expressed its intention to exit the mobile chip market and abandoned the release plan for the OMAP 5 series application processors. This meant that the OMAP 4470 became TI’s highest-end, most uniquely architected, and last processor product used in mobile devices.
  • Because it’s a swan song, finding a test machine is not easy
Having said so much, we naturally need to enter the real machine benchmarking test, just like we did previously with the ‘re-testing of 10 cores.’ However, please allow us to vent a little—finding a machine based on the OMAP 4470 that still works is quite challenging.
On one hand, TI’s mobile processors have a unique design where they integrate a self-developed ‘C64’ DSP core. This DSP can operate independently from the CPU, handling video, image, and audio decoding tasks with high efficiency (there were instances where manufacturers used a 0.2GHz CPU paired with a C64 DSP to achieve DVD ISO decoding on MP4).
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
Archos 101XS
However, this optimization is extremely difficult and requires a high level of programming skill from manufacturers. This has led to the fact that the manufacturers that dared to use TI’s OMAP processors were mainly large players like Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola, along with a few brands like Archos and SmartQ that had close ties with TI.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
SmartQ T30
On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, by the time the OMAP 4470 was released, TI’s market share in the smartphone sector had begun to decline rapidly, resulting in fewer brands using this processor. In fact, the only mass-produced models based on the OMAP 4470 that we could find are the Samsung Galaxy Premier (i9260), Archos 101XS, and SmartQ T30.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
This time, we at Sanyi Life managed to find a SmartQ T30 tablet that still operates normally and runs the final official firmware. However, due to its outdated system version (Android 4.2.1), it took considerable effort just to find testing software that could be installed and run properly.
  • Technical Analysis: An Unprecedented Heterogeneous Quad-Core CPU + Heterogeneous Dual-Core GPU
Finally, we can present to you the technical analysis and performance testing of the OMAP 4470, eleven years later in 2022.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
First, whether through the latest AIDA64 or the older version of AnTuTu Benchmark 6.0, we can see some basic configuration information of the SmartQ T30. This includes a dual-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 2GB DDR2-933MHz RAM, and a PowerVR SGX544 GPU.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
Do you notice a problem? That’s right, as the industry’s first processor with a ‘heterogeneous CPU design,’ the OMAP 4470 also features a ‘big.LITTLE’ architecture for its GPU. So why do we only see a dual-core A9 and a rather ordinary SGX544 in these software?
In fact, this is precisely where the OMAP 4470’s advanced design lies. The ‘big.LITTLE’ design we are familiar with today is based on the CPU bus designed specifically for ARM, allowing software to recognize how many CPU cores there are and what architecture they are. However, when the OMAP 4470 was launched, ARM’s public CPU did not support ‘big.LITTLE’ at all. TI developed its own scheduling mechanism to achieve cross-architecture scheduling for applications, meaning that no matter what app is used, it is impossible to read the ‘little cores’ of the OMAP 4470.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
By consulting technical materials, we learned that the OMAP 4470’s true CPU consists of two 1.8GHz Cortex-A9 ‘big cores’ plus two 266MHz Cortex-M3 ‘little cores.’ The A9 big cores are used for common APP processing, while the M3 little cores are dedicated to light-load applications such as background MP3 playback and image browsing, achieving extremely low power consumption levels.
Meanwhile, the OMAP 4470’s GPU is also a ‘big.LITTLE’ heterogeneous design. The big core is responsible for 3D modeling with the PowerVR SGX544, which was a very advanced GPU solution at the time. In addition, it also integrates a Vivante GC320 GPU core for rendering pure 2D graphics when 3D calculations are not needed.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
TI’s official parameter comparison table shows that the OMAP4470 has added hardware 2D acceleration units (the second GPU)
In addition, the OMAP 4470 also integrates TI’s self-developed C64x DSP core and IVA video decoding unit. Provided manufacturers optimize properly, it can theoretically unleash extremely high efficiency in video/image/audio decoding performance, greatly extending the battery life of devices during multimedia playback.
  • Benchmark Testing and Summary: Advanced Yet Not Very Usable, Failure Was Expected
Having discussed so much, how does the OMAP 4470 perform in actual testing? After considerable effort, we finally found two testing software that could run normally on the OMAP 4470 model, and we obtained the following benchmark scores.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
GeekBench 3 single-core performance far exceeds Tegra3 and OMAP4460, matching Exynos 4412
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
GeekBench 3 multi-core performance is significantly better than OMAP4460, but is outperformed by a host of quad-core processors
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
AnTuTu Benchmark v5.6.2, results unsurprisingly at the bottom
As we can see, the actual performance scores of the OMAP 4470 can be described as ‘within expectations.’ Compared to pure dual-core processors without little cores or early low-frequency quad-core processors, the ‘two big, two little’ heterogeneous quad-core performance is not bad overall. However, when compared to later mainstream quad-core or dual-core SoCs based on more advanced architectures, the OMAP 4470’s performance is indeed lacking.
Moreover, please note the terminology used in this article; we consistently refer to the OMAP 4470 as a ‘processor’ rather than the now-common ‘SoC.’ This is because TI never managed to develop the baseband-related technology, which meant their chips could only be classified as ‘application processors,’ requiring OEM manufacturers to additionally equip basebands to use them in phones.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
At the time, it had been announced that the new ‘heterogeneous quad-core’ OMAP5 series would be launched, but it ultimately did not hit the market
This not only imposed additional baseband costs on OEM manufacturers when using TI’s OMAP chips to manufacture phones, but also the third-party basebands could lead to various unpredictable compatibility issues. Coupled with the launch of 4G standards and the increasing complexity of global mobile communication standards, pure application processors without basebands were quickly abandoned by mainstream smartphone manufacturers. This was not just TI; NVIDIA also chose to exit the mobile market around this time. Clearly, this was no coincidence.
Of course, returning to the OMAP 4470 itself, is it a good mobile processor? Honestly, yes and no. It is considered good because it indeed made some original and advanced designs in terms of CPU and GPU energy efficiency, and its actual performance was slightly better than pure Cortex-A9 based dual-core or quad-core competitors of the same period. At least as a debut of ‘heterogeneous design,’ it did not fail.
The Rise and Fall of the Heterogeneous Quad-Core Processor: A Look at the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470
However, from another perspective, no matter how strong TI’s creativity was, they still did not break free from the shackles of ARM’s ‘public version.’ The OMAP 4470 did not redesign a new processor architecture or modify the instruction set; it could only be said to have patched the ARM dual-core design of the time. From this perspective, TI’s design capabilities in mobile processors were inferior to those of later companies like Apple or Qualcomm. This seems to further validate TI’s eventual exit, with the OMAP 4470 becoming the ‘swan song’ of the ‘heterogeneous quad-core.’
【Some images in this article are sourced from the internet】
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