ARM's big.LITTLE processing technology has been adopted by many of the world?s leading mobile chip manufacturers, including Samsung, Renesas Mobile, CSR, Fujitsu Semiconductor and MediaTek. ARM claims that its big.LITTLE technology saves up to 70 percent of processor energy consumption in common mobile workload tasks, essential as the performance of the smartphone has jumped by 60x since 2000 and 12x since 2008, causing a massive increase in both content generation and consumption.

ARM big.LITTLE processing technology addresses the challenge of creating a system-on-chip (SoC) that meets the needs of smartphones and other mobile devices. These conflicting demands require a smartphone to deliver high-performance when needed, while also extending the battery life. ARM big.LITTLE technology increases the dynamic performance range and energy efficiency of the mobile device while being transparent to the extensive range of applications available today for ARM processor-based platforms.

The big.LITTLE solution pairs the Cortex-A15 processor, delivering up to 2x more performance than today's smartphones, with the efficient Cortex-A7 processor and the ARM CoreLink Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI-400), which together enable devices to use the right processor for the right task based on performance requirements and optimal energy usage. ARM says that future implementations may also pair the Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 processors.