Nowadays, mainstream smartphone CPUs are quad-core and octa-core, with MediaTek even starting to develop deca-core processors, and their clock speeds are getting higher. As a result, many people believe that smartphone CPUs can rival computer CPUs. However, careful observers should notice one issue: computer CPUs require fans, while smartphone CPUs do not. What’s going on?
The CPU is a “basic infrastructure” that modern individuals need to use every day. Whether you consciously realize its existence or not, it is present in every corner of your life: in the smartphones, TV boxes, wireless routers you use every day, and even in the public transport facilities where you swipe your card, all rely on the CPU’s support for massive data calculations.
With the increasing popularity of smartphones and the longer usage times, smartphones have begun to replace computers in certain aspects. Their portability and immediacy are unmatched by laptops, and many people even believe that smartphone performance is now on par with computers.
So, why do computer CPUs need fans while smartphone CPUs don’t? Although the processors in computers and smartphones are both called CPUs, they are fundamentally different, with the core difference being their architecture. Usually, when we talk about computer CPUs, they are based on the X86 or X64 architecture, while smartphone CPUs are all currently based on ARM architecture. The two architectures have different design starting points. Due to their different positioning, smartphone CPUs need to be low in power consumption and cost-effective. Therefore, ARM architecture CPUs have significantly lower computational power compared to computer CPUs, with floating-point computation capabilities differing by thousands to tens of thousands of times at the same frequency.
For desktop/laptop computers, you can think of them as production tools, much like large logistics trucks or trains on the road, where the engines require a large displacement and power to meet software operation needs. The surrounding heat dissipation and storage are also based on various complex requirements, where heat generation is a secondary consideration and performance is the primary focus.
On the other hand, the ARM platform CPUs in smartphones can be viewed as the engines of small cars. Acceleration ability and intuitive experience (such as whether games like Honor of Kings or PUBG are smooth) are what users and manufacturers focus on. From a usage perspective, very few people use smartphones for tasks typically done on computers, as evidenced by the lukewarm reception of Samsung’s docking station and Smartisan’s TNT workstation.
In summary, although ARM platform smartphone CPUs are not slow, the significant differences in usage mean that computer CPUs require fans for cooling, while mobile platforms almost universally rely on passive heat dissipation. This is a reality in the industry that cannot be changed in the short term. What do you think?