Why it is SOC not Processor.

It might surprise you when it comes to the deeper specs of a smart phone device it would be SOC not processor. Advertisement and much outer world is still using the terminology processor but in the real meaning and in the correct terminology to use is that SOC or System On Chip. There is no ambiguity in this why it is so! because it is SOC not processor. Then we can think on to what is a processor.

What is Processor

By definition A processor is the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer. That means processor is basically a IC. nothing more than that. But it controls a whole circuitry and it is capable of doing much more. Here i mentioned a circuitary not computer not laptop not even smartphone. That means any IC that controls a circuitry is a processor. There are many types of processor CPU,GPU, DSP, Network card. which all are processors. We are most known to CPU, Central Processing Unit. Which is the brain of computer, as we taught in primary classes. 

CPU is just a combination of transistors which do the computation according to operating system. So the operating system(OS) or the operating software gives the intelligence to the computer. It instruct the CPU for what to do. There are many supporting softwares such as BIOS, memory manager and lot more. Now we can go till OS. Because we are commonly known the processor in CPU.

This processors are controlling arithmetic logic and basic I/O operations. That means it just bypassing the data in more tunnelled path. Arithmetic and logic part is handled by ALU of the CPU.So that the duty of a processor in CPU control arithmetic and logic operations and  flow of data from input and output devices. 

The main processors used in present systems are Intel i series ans AMD Ryzon series. much more processors are there. 

What is the difference in SOC

By definition SOC is also a IC or a control unit used in mobile devices for their usability. But it covers a vast area of controlling features in smartphone. In a computer system the I/O devices are mainly keyboard, mouse. But in case of a mobile device it is Camera, external mouse, Touch input, carrier signal, etc. For a computer system external network card is attached to CPU for signal handing.  This is the basic difference between a processor and a SOC. An SOC is comprised of I/O operation, network operation, Camera processing and even power management.

For and example we can look into specs of some processor and SOC

Intel Core i9

Snapdragon 675

This is one of the spec sheet of both IC.We can see that in Core i9 processor is showing what is its clock speed, how many cores, and how many threads to handle tasks. But in SD 675 SOC they were specifiying you clock speed as same in processor in addition to that it is specifying  display support Audio support , charging support , camera support, and wireless carrier support. 

Why it is so

Thats a good attribute to think. because why we need a SOC in smartphone and a processor in PC. just one reason why it is made to use. A processor made to use in a CPU that handles tons and tons of data at a time. Mostly a processor is used to run a datacenter, or a PC or a workstation or a server. So a minimum capacity a processor need is that to handle Terabytes of data at a time. It is not mandate that a processor will have a display unit or a keyboard input or a constant hardware that is always with processor. That constant hardware is cache, RAM , and processor fan.

In a smartphone it is sure that a phone would contain a display, Graphics, Career, camera, and power management. So it creates a requirement of a IC which controls all this aspects at once. It give raise to the term SOC.  Which provides more smaller and compact design of the motherboard. It also provide better energy management and better communication between channels. Simply faster and more efficient system. 

It also took away the flexibility of the system. such as adding more RAM or adding a better GPU or a Better network card. In case of CPU or a processor we can add new system of microprocessor to increase its ability of what it is. Even-though leading manufactures are working towards a modular phone which can upgrade by memory, change hardware and even have better specs.we can forward to the future for a phone that can be upgrades on hardware.