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5. The Chips Inside Smartphones

Episode 5 of 5

Stephen Fry meet pioneers who designed small silicon chips, perfect for the next generation of pocket-sized phones. From 2011.

Stephen Fry concludes tracing the evolution of the mobile phone.

All mobile phones rely on hyper-intelligent silicon chips to run them.

And the astonishing thing is 85% of the silicon chips inside all mobile phones are designed by one Cambridge-based company, ARM.

Stephen talks to the pioneers who designed these chips. They needed some micro-processors to build a better home computer, but didn't like what they saw and decided to make their own.

Strapped for cash, they designed chips that were small, cheap and exceptionally low power and, quite by chance, ideally suited to the next generation of pocket-sized mobile phones.

Not to mention today's power-hungry smartphones.

Producer: Anna Buckley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.

21 days left to listen

15 minutes

Last on

Sat 14 Mar 202603:30
BBC Radio 4 Extra

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