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Some phones have an armv6 processor, and some have an armv7.

Some apps (such as firefox, flash player, and chrome beta) only work on armv7.

So, what is the whole difference?

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This doesn't really seem like an Android question, honestly, aside from the tangental fact that Android devices use ARM processors typically (but so do iOS, Windows Phone, etc etc). – eldarerathis♦ Mar 28 '12 at 17:32
I think this question is useful in some contexts. For example, some apps don't run at all on Armv6 devices (a big example is Firefox). – Stephen Schrauger May 1 at 13:53
@StephenSchrauger And Chrome, and Temple Run, and Aurasma and ICS. – Liam W May 1 at 17:18

closed as off topic by Flow♦, Zuul, roxan, Sachin Shekhar, ce4 Aug 20 '12 at 18:43

Questions on Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange are expected to relate to Android within the scope defined in the FAQ. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about closed questions here.

1 Answer

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ARMv6 and ARMv7 are two different versions of CPU architecture developed by ARM. ARMv6 is older & ARMv7 is newer. ARMv6 was used in ARM11 & ARM Cortex-M CPU families. ARMv7 is used in ARM Cortex-A, ARM Cortex-M (newer), ARM Cortex-R CPU families.

There are many feature differences which are off-topic on this website, but you can check this. The main difference is ARMv7 requires high memory but gives high performance which is opposite for ARMv6.

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