La Mobile World Congress 2012 many mobile terminals with quad-core processors were presented, most of them using the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip. Last year the same thing happened, but then it was about dual-core processors and the Nvidia Tegra 2 platform. Most mobile terminal manufacturers they seem to have "stuck" to Nvidia, which sells its chips in tens of millions and sets new standards in the industry. Last year the standard was dual-core, this year the standard is definitely quad-core and no self-respecting Android terminal manufacturer will launch a high-end mobile terminal without such a processor.
We know what the rest of the world is doing, but what is Apple doing? Well the company Is playing both with dual-core processors and with quad-core processors for iPad 3 and iPhone 5, but at the moment no one says for sure which processors the new terminals will have. Last year Apple followed the trend started in the industry and included dual-core processors in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and the decision was an extremely good one, but will it do the same this year? No matter what decision Apple will take, if it manages to produce better performing processors than those in the current quad-core mobile terminals, then iPad 3 and iPhone 5 will definitely be successful.
Regardless of whether they will be dual-core or quad-core, it is important that they have better performance both in synthetic tests and in real life, because Apple sells high-end, expensive products, which must not only look good but and offer tailor-made performance. In conclusion, I don't think it will matter much if the A5X or A6 ends up in the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 as long as they offer what they need.
