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After Apple 64-bit A7 criticism, Qualcomm exec reassigned

Formerly Qualcomm's chief marketing officer, Anand Chandrasekher has been moved to a new position in the wake of negative comments about Apple's 64-bit processor.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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The 64-bit Apple A7 chip is now being used in all of Apple's marquee iOS products, including the newest iPhone and iPad.
The 64-bit Apple A7 chip is now being used in all of Apple's marquee iOS products, including the newest iPhone and iPad. Apple
Chandrasekher has a new role after a sharply criticizing Apple's 64-bit chip architecture initiative.
Chandrasekher has a new role after a sharply criticizing Apple's 64-bit chip architecture initiative. Qualcomm

A Qualcomm executive has been given a new role after making critical comments about Apple's 64-bit A7 chip.

"Anand Chandrasekher, is moving to a new role leading our exploration of certain enterprise related initiatives...Anand will continue to report to Steve Mollenkopf, COO and President of Qualcomm. This will be effective immediately," according to a statement Qualcomm sent to CNET.

And he no longer appears on the Qualcomm leadership page.

Chandrasekher said earlier this month that Apple's 64-bit A7 chip is a "gimmick".

"I know there's a lot of noise because Apple did [64-bit] on their A7. I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There's zero benefit a consumer gets from that," he said to IDG News Service.


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But Qualcomm later said the comments by Chandrasekher were inaccurate -- essentially retracting the statement.

"The comments made by Anand Chandrasekher, Qualcomm CMO, about 64-bit computing were inaccurate. The mobile hardware and software ecosystem is already moving in the direction of 64-bit; and, the evolution to 64-bit brings desktop class capabilities and user experiences to mobile, as well as enabling mobile processors and software to run new classes of computing devices," Qualcomm said.

Chandrasekher may have put Qualcomm in a difficult position, as Apple is already working on its second-generation 64-bit A8 processor and Samsung will eventually move its ARM processors to 64-bit.

Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung processors are based on the ARM chip architecture and are inside today's most popular mobile devices. Most processors today are still 32-bit.