ARM designs are effectively paper launches. You get these press releases saying the new ARM matches Apple and AMD, but its years before you can buy a product with it. Google Pixels that came out in the fall are still on the X4, which was introduced in 2023. At this rate, Pixel 11 will launch with X925, which is an Apple A17/M3 tier core, when Apple is on the A20: https://wccftech.com/apple-a20-and-a20-pro-all-technological.... Outsourcing the core design creates a major lag in product availability.
> ARM designs are effectively paper launches. You get these press releases saying the new ARM matches Apple and AMD, but its years before you can buy a product with it.
This is an article testing shipping hardware you can buy today.
Yeah, the paper launch OP is talking about happened way back in May 2024.
I feel like that was much more true in the past but the X925 was only spec'd 18 months ago(?) and you can buy it today (I'm using one since October). Intel and AMD also give lots of advance notice on new designs well ahead of anything you can buy. ARM is also moving towards providing completely integrated solutions, so customers like Samsung don't have to take only CPU core and fill in the blanks themselves. They'll probably only get better at shipping complete solutions faster.
Honestly, Apple is the strange one because they never discuss CPUs until they are available to buy in a product; they don't need to bother.
This core was released in the MediaTek 9400 in October 2024 some 16 months ago.
The successor of x925 is C1 Ultra and even that was released 6 months ago in September 2025 with the MediaTek 9500 and GeekerWan even has a phone review they did with that chip last year.
Google outright has worst in class SoCs on both CPU and GPU unfortunately.
If you want something more perf competitive, pick Dimensity, Exynos, or Snapdragon.
> ARM designs are effectively paper launches.
Won't ARM have validation silicon available to their licensees?