Why the processor is the single most important spec to look out for in a smartphone and why you should pay more attention to when buying a new phone.

We all know that smartphones are becoming smarter and better each year, and are not just becoming "small" computers, but cameras as well.
Though they are still way far from totally replacing the PC, smartphones now can do almost anything a PC can do, and much more what the same PC might not.
Phone designs are also changing quite fast, and when buying a new one, you should get one that you will feel it is really worth what you paid for, and will be relevant for sometime before the need for replacement arises.
Among the Key specs you should consider when buying a new phone are the display, battery and maybe the cameras.
But what many don't know is that all these are determined by the processor.
How? To answer this, we need to first look at the smartphone processor, and how it might be slightly different from that of your laptop or PC.
What is a smartphone processor?

A processor is what tell the phone what to do and how to do it. It is the one that executes the various programs that a smartphone does on a daily basis, that is why it can be referred to as the 'brain' of the smartphone.
What is the difference between a smartphone processor and the CPU?
Till now you can get varied responses to this question, and mine might also be different.
Some say a CPU forms part of a processor, others argue the processor is what tells the CPU what to do, and others just say the two are the same.
The two key challenges faced of a smartphone compared to a PC are the lack of space, and the limited power supply.
In order to solve this, phone designers decided to combine almost all components into one chip, commonly referred to as System On chip, or just Soc.
These therefore means you might not be able to distinguish between a smartphone processor and the CPU, but in most cases, the processor commonly refers to the SoC, or just the 'chip', and throughout this article the word 'processor' will mostly refer to the System on Chip,(SoC).
What is the difference between a processor, CPU and the core?
Since we are referring to the processor as the SoC, then we can say that a smartphone processor is made up of a number of components including the CPU, the signal processor, camera processor, input processor, controls and the data modem.
The GPU is also part of the SOC in a smartphone.
Though all of these come together to give you the smartphone experience, the CPU is still the key, with the GPU coming in handy when it comes to gaming.
A CPU core is the actual processor part that carries the various computing process.
Initial smartphones had single core processors, but now we have dual core, quad core and octa core, with the later on an increase.
There are also few with hexa cores but quite rare.
The multi-corr allows multitasking and safes on power, though understanding the relationship between the number of CPU cores and overall processor performance can be confusing to many, and we will cover that in detail in our next article.
Common smartphone processors available in the market.
There are tech companies that specialises in chip making, or fabrication, then sell them to phone manufacturers.
A good example are Qualcomm who supply almost all phone manufacturers.
On the other hand some phone makers decide to fabricate their own chipsets, e.g Samsung and Huawei. They also sometimes use other processors.
The common smartphone processors are:

• Qualcomm snapdragon.
• Apple mobile processors
• Mediatek.
• Intel Atom.
• Samsung Exynos.
• Huawei kirin
• Hisilicon.

Snapdragon is the most preferred since they are believed to be more reliable and durable.

Mediatek processors majorly target budget and midrange smartphone segments, and I bet if you have a Chinese phone, then there is a high chance it runs on a Mediatek processor.

Why is the processor or soc the key spec in a smartphone?
Those who are aware of the key role that the processor plays in a smartphone might read through this section quite easily, but for those who have taken it for granted, then you might need to take your time through this small section.
The processor is the one that literary determines what specs any phone will feature, and probably how smooth it is going to function.
The smartphone processor is the one that determines:

• The number of CPU cores, whether it will be a dual, quad, octa core and so on.
• The display type, aspect ratio and size. It determines if the display will be IPS LCD, AMOLED, super AMOLED, qLED OLED and so on. It also determines if the display resolution will be HD, HD+, full HD+, 2K or 4k. The aspect ratio, e.g 16:9, 19:9 or 20:9 will be supported.
• The number of cameras and their individual resolution. This means you cannot expect a triple camera set up or a 48 MP single camera if the processor can't allow.
• The AI capabilities of your smartphone. Older processors didn't have AI, some have light AI, while others allow high AI integration. This is where features like fingerprint unlock, face unlock, camera AI, AI power saving and so on come into play.
• The type of modem. Latest smartphone processors now support 5G, but a number of them now have 4G LTE support while almost all have 3G modems. 
• Other features like fast battery charging, wireless charging are also determined by the type of the processor.
• The type and size of RAM. This is what you should pay more attention to, and since there a lot that needs to be explained when it comes to this, I am working on another post about smartphone RAM, hope won't take long.

If the processor is the KEY spec, why do phone manufacturers pay more attention on other specs when advertising their phones?

Just like any other competitive business platform, the smartphone space is quite competitive, maybe even more competitive.

Each company is trying to boost of having the best screen display, camera specs including using terms like wide angle lens, 5x optical zoom, telephoto lens, bokeh and so on.

Some feature high end specs like fast battery charging, wireless charging AI phone unlock, 6 or 8 GB of RAM and so on.

We can now agree that all these are determined by the processor, but the phone companies knows that if they just tell you what type of processor is powering your phone, then you will not really not pay much attention.

Also most of these processors are used by various phone companies, that is why you can find a similar processor in a Nokia phone and an Oppo.

Though most of these processors have a lot to offer, phone manufacturers sometimes decide not to fully utilize all of the specs, since they want to sell that particular phone at a specific price.