When Apple introduced the iPhone 5s earlier this year, the most hotly debated spec was the 64-bit A7 processor. Why did they go 64-bit when their phone only has 1 GB of RAM? Do phones need 64-bit CPUs? A senior Qualcomm executive poked fun at Apple and 64-bit chips in general only to get demoted several weeks later. Well, according to DigiTimes, damn near everything is going to go 64-bit in just a few short months. They say that Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Broadcom will have 64-bit chips out on the market during the first half of 2014.

So let’s try to figure this out, is 64-bit important? If you look at the Android landscape today, the answer is no. Android, as far as I’m aware, can’t take advantage of 64-bit hardware. Those chip companies I mentioned above obviously have secret meetings with companies so they know what to plan for the next 12 to 24 months, but if Samsung were to launch a 64-bit phone right this second, it would be a waste of technology.

Does this mean that 64-bit will be a major party of the Android landscape in 2014? I’m sure it will be, but I’m having an incredibly difficult time figuring out what the benefits will be to end users. The Snapdragon 800 is already crazy fast, and the as yet to be release Snapdragon 805 will make things even faster.

In case you can’t tell, yes, I’m confused.