Samsung readying Windows RT tablet for October launch

Samsung is reportedly working on a tablet running Microsoft's next generation operating system ahead of its worldwide release in October. According to sources familiar with the matter cited in a report byBloomberg, the South Korean firm plans to release the ARM-based tablet running Windows RT at the same time as Microsoft releases its new OS to the public.

Both of the sources asked not to be named as the plans weren't public. One of them claimed Samsung's Windows RT tablet would be released in October.

Windows RT is a fine-tuned version of Windows 8 for touchscreen devices that will be powered by ARM-based processors. Samsung’s Windows RT tablet in particular will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. ARM-based chips have risen massively in popularity in recent years and are now used to power a whole host of smartphones and tablets, including Apple's industry leading iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone.

Samsung's entry will provide a welcome boost to the Windows 8 tablets available at launch. Two weeks ago rumors emerged suggesting one of Microsoft's biggest OEMs, Hewlett Packard, was towithdraw from making ARM-based Windows RT tablets after the software giant unveiled its own Microsoft Surface tablet.

HP has since confirmed in a statement to Forbes it plans to focus on x86 Windows 8 tablets with business users in mind for the foreseeable future. That said, they didn't completely rule out ARM-based Windows RT tablets, saying it "continues to look at using ARM processors in business and consumer products".

If the latest rumors are true, Samsung would join Asus, Dell and Microsoft in building ARM-based tablets running Windows RT for launch in October. The launch will mark the first time ever that the Redmond software firm has released a cross platform operating system working on traditional x86 computers and notebooks as well as ARM-based tablets at the same time.

ARM unveils super efficient Cortex A7, will be paired with A15

ARM has unveiled a new chip that will enable more efficient and affordable mobile processors. Based on the company's 28nm fabrication, the Cortex A7 reportedly consumes five times less power and measures one-fifth the size of the 45nm Cortex A8, which is used inside the Apple A4, Samsung Hummingbird and Texas Instruments OMAP3. ARM will compliment that efficiency by pairing the Cortex A7 with quicker, more power hungry processing cores.

Additionally, the A7 will make it easier to produce sub-$100 smartphones, which will boost adoption rates in developing regions. "We can see the developed world moving on and mobile being the nexus for all sort of consumer electronics. In the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) we are seeing catch-up," ARM CEO Warren East told the BBC. "As we look forward these smartphones are going to be totally ubiquitous and in the much less developed areas..."

The company's heterogeneous "Big.LITTLE" design concept will see the Cortex A7 packaged with the upcoming Cortex A15 as a system-on-a-chip that will allocate tasks to the best available core. The A7 will compute lighter loads while the A15 will tackle requests that are more intensive. It's worth noting that the efficiency gains mentioned above are specifically limited to the A7 so it's unclear what you can expect from this package as a whole, but it should be awesome.

The A15 was announced last September and is expected to ship sometime in early 2012. It will be offered in various flavors with clock speeds up to 2.5GHz and it's said to deliver 40% more performance than the A9. Several licensees have already announced next-generation SoCs based on the A15, including Nvidia's fourth-gen Tegra "Wayne," Texas Instruments' OMAP 5 and ST-Ericsson's Nova A9600. Samsung, LG, Apple and others will undoubtedly utilize A15 cores as well.