ARM Architecture

The architecture used in smart phones, personal digital assistants and other mobile devices is anything from ARMv5 in obsolete/low-end devices to ARM M-series in current high-end devices. XScale and ARM926 processors are ARMv5TE, and are now more numerous in high-end devices than the Strong ARM, ARM9TDMI and ARM7TDMI based ARMv4 processors, but lower-end devices may use older cores with lower licensing costs. ARMv6 processors represented a step up in performance from standard ARMv5 cores, and are used in some cases, but Cortex processors (ARMv7) now provide faster and more power-efficient options than all those previous generations.

Cortex-A targets applications processors, as needed by smart phones  that previously used ARM9 or ARM11. Cortex-R targets real-time applications, and Cortex-M targets microcontrollers. ARM provides a summary of the numerous vendors who implement ARM cores in their design. KEIL also provides a somewhat newer summary of vendors of ARM based processors. ARM further provides a chart  displaying an overview of the ARM processor lineup with performance and functionality versus capabilities for the more recent ARM7, ARM9, ARM11, Cortex-M, Cortex-R and Cortex-A device families.