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The announcement by Qualcomm, who introduced its first 64-bit SoC (system-on-chip), called Snapdragon 410, not only shows the existing normal progress in the field of mobile devices but also a generational shift from the 32-bit processors  currently used.

Qualcomm isn’t the first company in the field of mobile devices to venture into the 64-bit world. Almost exactly three months ago, Apple unveiled its iPhone 5, which uses the 64-bit SoC A7 but we know that this is a separate world, where there’s only one company that assembles hardware and software dictating all their specifications. The SoC announced by Qualcomm, based on the ARM Cortex A53 architecture, is made for mobile devices that should use operating systems such as Android, Windows Phone and perhaps others in search of market share such as Firefox OS.

Although Apple is a separate world, many see in Qualcomm’s announcement a willingness to demonstrate it can respond to Apple’s move. However, it’s inevitable that the constant demand for mobile devices to become more and more powerful pushes companies to move to 64-bit processors. The problem is that this generational shift will not be quick or painless.

In the PC world this has already happened a few years ago. 64-bit processors today are the standard for these computers but for quite some time there was a software problem that has slowed the transition from 32-bit operating systems. The 64-bit processors have advantages but the software must be adapted and computers need more memory.

Currently, mobile devices don’t have enough memory to have real advantages in using 64-bit software, actually this would become a disadvantage. It’s a matter of time because surely the future models of mobile devices will have more memory and in the meantime the various operating systems will be ported to 64-bit platforms.

The similarity with what has happened in the PC market isn’t an accident. Smartphones and tablets are real computers with functions more and more similar to those of PCs. Their performances are limited because of their size, which prevent the use of hardware as powerful as that of PCs, which also consume much more power.

There are advances in hardware also for mobile devices, which have performances comparable to what PCs had a few years ago. So here’s that even after Apple, Qualcomm began the transition to 64-bits and also Samsung is planning to take that step.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 SoC is designed for mobile devices, however, entry-level ones, not high-end ones, as you might expect considering the use of a 64-bit chipset. The four core processor ARM Cortex A53 work at frequencies between 1.2 GHz and 1.4 GHz, nothing special. It will take some time to see the first models that will implement it, perhaps in the second half of 2014.

While waiting for those models, surely there will be other announcements and a lot of talks about 64-bit mobile architectures and the transition from 32-bits. In the coming months we’ll surely find a lot of information and opinions on these topics on traditional media and on the Internet

It’s difficult to make long-term predictions in an area where there may be sudden changes and progress but within a few years we could really have tablets and even smartphones with performances comparable to PC that are not very old.