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mobile application processor

Definition

mobile application processor

A mobile application processor is a system on a chip (SoC) designed to support applications running in a mobile operating system environment.

A mobile application processor provides a self-contained operating environment that delivers all system capabilities needed to support a device's applications, including memory management, graphics processing and multimedia decoding.

Mobile application processors may be independent from other specialized processors in the same mobile device, such as a phone's baseband (wireless communications) processor.

Some vendors manufacture their own mobile application processors. Other vendors purchase their mobile application processors, using them as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components. For example, the Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile application processor is contained in many smart phones that use Snapdragon to run the Android operating system and Android applications. In this way, every phone manufacturer need not develop its own mobile application processor (although they can); this approach reduces bill-of-materials (BoM) cost and makes it possible to develop low-cost "smart" consumer electronics.

A wide variety of mobile devices contain mobile application processors, including feature phones, smartphones, tablets, eReaders, netbooks, automotive navigation devices and gaming consoles.

Related glossary terms: Samsung Galaxy, Android Open Source Project (AOSP), Samsung Galaxy Note (Samsung GN), mobile device fragmentation, Nexus

This was last updated in December 2011

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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