Here’s why your budget phone might not be vulnerable to Meltdown, Spectre

AMD, ARM and Intel have made headlines recently following the disclosure of processor exploits (dubbed Meltdown and Spectre).

The exploits centre on the “speculative execution” feature in many processors, being heavily used by Intel.

The focus seems to be on Intel for the most part obviously, being the biggest loser in the whole situation. But the exploits also affect ARM processors, powering the vast majority of smartphones on the market.

There’s a good chance that your mid-range or entry-level phone won’t be affected by the exploits though, as ARM disclosed last week that its energy efficient A7, A53 and A55 cores (used in all budget phones) aren’t affected.

Now, ARM’s Phil Hughes has elaborated on why this is the case. And it’s not because they don’t have the speculative execution functionality…

“While A7, A53 and A55 do have speculative execution, it is limited due to having an in-order pipeline (versus out-of-order on the bigger cores) which doesn’t allow for the conditions that cause the vulnerability to form,” the executive told Gearburn in an emailed response.