Smartphones as a Supercomputer?

Adapteva plans to push smartphones beyond dual-core processors, with a design for a 64-core accelerator for handheld devices.

Such an accelerator have a similar role to that of specialised multicore chips used in supercomputing, only with a difference-- Adapteva's Epiphany design operates at only 1 W. 

Adapteva

The design can scale to up to 4096 cores (which would run on 64W), but Adapteva's current focus is on mobile applications. The company says an Epiphany 64-core accelerator would also be quite small-- 8mm square.

Adapteva still has to convince device makers to embrace its yet unproven (if not unneeded) design, however-- as well as convince them that it's more worthed to process data on the device, rather than ship it over cellular network. Will it manage? The future will tell, of course. 

Go Adapteva