CPU (Central Processing Unit) - otherwise known as a processor - is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. Both the miniaturization and standardization of CPUs have increased their presence far beyond the limited application of dedicated computing machines. Modern microprocessors appear in everything from automobiles to mobile phones.
The clock rate is one of the main characteristics of the CPU when performance is concerned. Clock rate is the fundamental rate in cycles per second (measured in hertz, kilohertz, megahertz or gigahertz) for the frequency of the clock in any synchronous circuit. A single clock cycle (typically shorter than a nanosecond in modern non-embedded microprocessors) toggles between a logical zero and a logical one state.
With any particular CPU, replacing the crystal with another crystal that oscillates with twice the frequency will generally make the CPU run with twice the performance. It will also make the CPU produce roughly twice the amount of waste heat.
Engineers are working hard to push the boundaries of the current architectures and are constantly searching for new ways to design CPUs that tick a little quicker or use slightly less energy per clock. This produces new cooler CPUs that can run at higher clock rates.
Scientists also continue to search for new designs that allow CPUs to run at the same or at a lower clock rate as older CPUs, but which get more instructions completed per clock cycle.
The clock rate of a processor is only useful for providing comparisons between computer chips in the same processor family and generation.
Clock rates can be very misleading since the amount of work different computer chips can do in one cycle varies. Clock rates should not be used when comparing different computers or different processor families. Rather, some kind of software benchmarks should be used.
Smartphones are equipped with more advanced embedded chipsets that can do many different tasks depending on their programming.
The performance of the CPU that's at the core of the chipset is vital for the daily user experience and the general computing performance of the smartphone. People tend to use the clock rate of the main CPU to compare the performance of competing end products. But as we already pointed out, the clock rate of a processor is only useful for providing performance comparisons between computer chips in the same processor family and generation. For all other purposes, it's best to use software benchmarks for determining comparative performance.
Related terms:
2G 3.5mm headphone jack 3G 4G 5G 802.11
A-GPS (Assisted GPS) A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Accelerometer Airplane mode Alarm Clock Alphanumeric AMOLED display (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) Analog Android ANT+ Antenna Aperture APN (Access Point Name) Apple AirPlay Apple AirPlay 2 Apple iOS Apple iOS 10 Apple iOS 11 Apple iOS 12 Apple iOS 7 Apple iOS 8 Apple iOS 9 Apple Pay aptX Audio jack Auto-focus AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile)
Bada OS Band Bandwidth Bar Base Station Battery Charging BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Benchmarking Biometrics Bit BlackBerry OS BlackBerry Playbook OS Bluetooth bps (Bits per Second) Brand Broadband Browser Byte
Calculator Calendar Call alerts Calling Plan Camera Capacitive Touchscreen Car Kit Carrier CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) CDMA2000 Cell Chipset cHTML (Compact HyperText Markup Language) CIF (Common Intermediate Format) Clamshell CMOS (Complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor) Color depth Concatenated SMS Connected GPS Construction Corning Gorilla Glass CPU (Central Processing Unit) Crosstalk CSTN (Color Super Twisted Nematic) CTIA Custom ringtones CyanogenMod
D-Pad (Direction Pad) Data Disclaimer DC-HSDPA (Dual Carrier or Dual Cell High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) Digital Zoom Display type DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) Downlink DRM (Digital Rights Management) Dual-band Dual-Mode Dual-SIM DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) Dynamic Memory
EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) EGPRS EGSM (Extended GSM) Email client Emoji EMS (Enhanced Message Service) eSIM EV-DO EV-DV Exchangeable covers External Antenna Jack External Display
FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Feature Phone Femtocell Firefox OS Firmware Fixed-focus Flash Memory Flight mode Flip-down phone FM Radio FM Transmitter Form factor FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) FPS (Frames Per Second) Frame Error Rate Frequency FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Galileo (Global Navigation Satellite System) GB (Gigabyte) Gbps (Gigabits per second) Geo-tag GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) GNSS Positioning GPRS GPS (Global Positioning System) gpsONE gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
H.263 H.264 H.265 Half-QWERTY keyboard layout Handwriting recognition Haptics HEVC Hot Spot Hot Swap HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit Switched Data) HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) HSDPA+ (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access Plus) HSP (Headset Profile) HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Hz (Hertz)
iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) Image Signal Processor (ISP) IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) IP (Internet Protocol) IP Ratings IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
KB (Kilobyte) Kbps (Kilobits per second) Key Guard Key Lock Switch
Land line LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) LED (Light-Emitting Diode) Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) LiMo OS Linux Location-Based Services (LBS) Lock code Long SMS Long Term Evolution (LTE) Loudspeaker
Macro Maemo OS Magnetometer mAh Mass Storage mode MB (Megabyte) Mbps (Megabit per second) MeeGo OS Megapixel Memory card slot Memory effect Messaging MHz (Megahertz) Micro USB microSD microSDHC Microsoft Exchange (Server) MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) MIMO Mini-USB miniSD MMC MMCmobile MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) Mobile games Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) Mobile IM (Instant Messaging) Mobile WiMAX Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) Models Modem Monochrome MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) MPEG-4 video Multitouch input method Music playback time (battery life) Music Player
NAND Memory Network capacity Network coverage NFC (Near Field Communication) NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) NOR Memory Numeric keypad
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) Optical Zoom OS (Operating System) OTA (Over-The-Air) OTG
Packet Data Pager PC Sync PCS (Personal Communications Service) PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) Percentile rank Phone Book Access (PBA) Phone Life Cycle Phone Physical Attributes Phonebook PIM (Personal Information Manager/Management) PIN code (Personal Identification Number) Pixel Pixel density (Pixels Per Inch) Polyphonic ringtones POP3 (Post Office Protocol) Port Predictive text input Price PTT (Push-To-Talk) PUK Code (PIN UnlocK Code) Push
QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) Quad-band Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) QWERTY keyboard layout
RAM (Random-Access Memory) RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) RDS (Radio Data System) Rechargeable Battery Types Resistive touchscreen Resolution Ringer ID Ringing profiles Ringtone Roaming ROM (Read-Only Memory) RS-MMC (Reduced-Size Multi Media Card) RSA (Rural Service Area) RSS (Rich Site Summary) Ruggedized (Rugged)
S60 user interface SAP (SIM Access Profile) SAR (Specific absorption rate) Screen protection SD (Secure Digital) Secondary camera Sensors Side Keys SIM SIM lock Single-Band Skin Slimport Smart Watch Smartphone SMIL SMS (Short Messaging Service) SNS (Social network service) Soft keys Soft Reset Speed Dial Stand-by time (battery life) Stereo Speakers Streaming Video Stylus Sub-QCIF SVGA Symbian SyncML
Talk time (battery life) TCP/IP TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) TEST Tethering Text messaging (texting) TFD (Thin Film Diode) TFT (Thin Film Transistor) Theme To-Do list Touchscreen Trackball Transflash Transflective Tri-band
UFS UI (User Interface) UIQ UMA UMTS Unlocked phone Upload UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) USB (Universal Serial Bus) USB On-The-Go USIM
VGA (Video Graphics Array) Video call Video Codec Voice dialing Voice mail Voice memo VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) VPN (Virtual Private Network)
WAP (Wireless Application protocol) watchOS WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) Wear OS Wearable Technology webOS Wi-Fi Windows Mobile Windows Phone OS Wireless email WLAN WMV (Windows Media Video)
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