With a growing number of 64-bit processors being announced, including the MediaTek MT6732, their full potential still needs a 64-bit operating system to take advantage of the new architecture. Apple has already launched iOS as a 64-bit OS and Google Android may not be far behind. Speaking at an impromptu briefing at Mobile World Congress, Jeffrey Ju, General Manager for MediaTek’s Smartphone Business Unit, said that it would be announced sometime in Q3 (July to September). He added that this 64-bit Android version would likely launch as Android 5.0.
Ju believes that a 64-bit operating system makes sense now that manufacturers have a growing choice of 64-bit system-on-chip solutions. Aside from MediaTek, Qualcomm also offers a number of such chips, including the Snapdragon 610 and Snapdragon 615 announced at MWC 2014. Other players, including Samsung, are also expected to unveil their own 64-bit solutions in the near future.
With the Linux kernel at the heart of Android already able to support 64-bit architectures, Ju expects that the transition should be relatively easy. As for the benefits of such a move, Ju expects multimedia performance to improve dramatically.
Ju’s prediction lines up nicely with a report that suggested that Google would announce the next major version of Android in July along with a Nexus 8 tablet. The earlier report predicted that this version of Android would carry the 4.5 version number though.
Source : TechRadar