Appendix     B

Android Hardware Overview

Unsurprisingly, the Android operating system runs on computer hardware. Developers for other mobile platforms can rely on supporting a single CPU architecture, instruction set, and GPU type. Android developers do not have this luxury if they would like to maximize the reach of their apps.

We take a look at the major CPU and GPU architectures in used on the Android platform in this appendix.

CPU Architectures

There are currently three major CPU architectures in use on the Android platform today. These are based on the ARM, MIPS, and x86 instruction sets.

ARM

ARM currently enjoys the position of being the dominant CPU architecture in the mobile space. The ARM architecture was originally created in the ...

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