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ARM Announces Dual-Core Cortex-A9 Processor Designs

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Chip design firm ARM today announced the development of two dual-core chip designs based on the company's Cortex-A9 platform. Implementations of the new chip designs, which will deliver performance in excess of 2 GHz while drawing less than 0.25 W of power per CPU, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.
The Cortex-A9 speed-optimized hard macro implementation will provide system designers with an industry standard ARM processor incorporating aggressive low-power techniques to further extend ARM's performance leadership into high-margin consumer and enterprise devices within the power envelope necessary for compact, high-density and thermally constrained environments. This hard macro implementation operates in excess of 2GHz when selected from typical silicon and represents an ideal solution for high-margin performance-oriented applications.
Click to expand...
ARM is positioning the chip design for use in such consumer electronics devices as set-top boxes, digital TVs, and printers, although it has been claimed in the past that the chips would be appropriate for mobile platforms and would appear in those devices in 2010.

The iPhone 3GS utilizes a Cortex-A8-based processor from Samsung, suggesting that the Cortex-A9 could be a natural fit for the next-generation iPhone, although the thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements of the iPhone would likely dictate that the chip be underclocked as has been done for several iPhone and iPod touch models.

Apple, which acquired ARM chip design firm P.A. Semi in April 2008, has been rumored to be working on its own ARM-based chip designs for both the iPhone and the much-anticipated Apple tablet, and the introduction of dual-core Cortex-A9 processors would offer the company additional computing power and energy-saving options upon which to base its device designs.

Article Link: ARM Announces Dual-Core Cortex-A9 Processor Designs
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/16/arm-announces-dual-core-cortex-a9-processor-designs/
J

JayX

macrumors member
Aug 31, 2007
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.
 
countrydweller

countrydweller

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2009
447
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JayX said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.
Click to expand...

Yes, the next gen iphone will be nice....
 
N

neoserver

macrumors 6502
Apr 24, 2003
335
0
If Apple were to bring these dual-core chips to the iPhone, I would hope that they would also bring in an implementation of Grand Central Dispatch to the iPhone SDK. It would only make sense to do so...
 
C

Chimpy

macrumors 6502
Mar 9, 2007
257
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JayX said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.
Click to expand...

I agree - the transition to Intel is still fairly fresh, I can't see them rushing to a new processor maker any time soon.
 
M

MalibuMatt98

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2009
17
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Would be sweet for a new iPhone, and the iPod Touch. Who knows, it may even be for a next gen Apple TV...would be nice.
 
B

BrianGA

macrumors newbie
Sep 16, 2009
1
0
Overclocking ARM Chips

Has there been any successful attempt, outside of Apple, to overclock ARM chips within an iPhone / iPod Touch?
 
Rot'nApple

Rot'nApple

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2006
1,152
1
I DID build that!
MacRumors said:
suggesting that the Cortex-A9 could be a natural fit for the next-generation iPhone, although the thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements of the iPhone would likely dictate that the chip be underclocked as has been done for several iPhone and iPod touch models.
Click to expand...

But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon :apple:
 
P

pmjoe

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2009
468
36
MacRumors said:
Implementations of the new chip designs, which will deliver performance in excess of 2 GHz while drawing less than 0.25 W of power per CPU, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.
Click to expand...
Perfect timing for a tablet perhaps?
 
S

stuffradio

macrumors 65816
Mar 17, 2009
1,016
6
It would be utterly amazing to get this chip in the iPhone. If it went into the iPhone, I'd want to be able to cluster the phones together because my dad and sister own an iPhone too, lol. Web server ran on clustered iPhones ftw. That would be the smallest server in size ever.
 
PeterQC

PeterQC

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2008
727
0
HLdan said:
Hopefully we'll see these in future iMacs. :)
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If theses processors end up in the iMacs, that pretty much mean no more OSX, since these processors need to be recoded for. Also, comparatively with an comparable 2GHz Peryn Intel C2D, they probably are also underpowered.
 
jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
And then people will bitch as of why the A9 is underclocked below 2GHz. Then when it's released at it's native speed, people will bitch at the device's poor battery performance....

Good article, but it won't satisfy people.
 
VenusianSky

VenusianSky

macrumors 65816
Aug 28, 2008
1,290
47
Being that it is dual core, no big deal if it is underclocked, as long as the OS is multi-threaded. If they even clock it @ 1Ghz, that will be a big jump from the 3GS.
 
EagerDragon

EagerDragon

macrumors 68020
Jun 27, 2006
2,098
0
MA, USA
Rot'nApple said:
But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon :apple:
Click to expand...

Not really,
I like how it looks now, changing the look of the device does nothing for me. More power and more features is what interest me.

With Apple trying to crate their own ARM based design, and after spending all that money buying the know how, it would be funny if this particular chip was better than what Apple came out with.

Doing your own thing is not always the right answer. We will find out soon I guess.
 
1

15inchbrick

macrumors member
Oct 15, 2008
37
0
Rot'nApple said:
But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon :apple:
Click to expand...

I don't think that we will see anything with a different screen size, The reason the app store is taking off is because the apps work on all iphones if they screw with that, and make different versions for different phones/screen sizes people might freak out! :eek:
 
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
JayX said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.
Click to expand...

Ha ha, sorry, I have to admit that I didn't read the whole article, I just wanted to be the first person posting as someone always beats me to it so I just came up with any Apple product that came to mind. :eek:
 
M

mccoma

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2002
131
0
P.A. Semi

I think P.A. Semi is better known as a PowerPC design firm. I actually don't think they had an ARM-based design. The founders do know a thing or two about the ARM though.
 
M

mccoma

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2002
131
0
ARM make core, Apple, Samsung, etc. do rest

EagerDragon said:
With Apple trying to crate their own ARM based design, and after spending all that money buying the know how, it would be funny if this particular chip was better than what Apple came out with.

Doing your own thing is not always the right answer. We will find out soon I guess.
Click to expand...

Once again, ARM licenses the core of a chip and licensees do the full support chip / system on a chip design. Given that Apple is designing parts that are not designed by ARM, I would guess Apple (and Samsung, Qualcomm, etc) will be fine.
 
the-oz-man

the-oz-man

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2009
403
154
With this processor the iPhone would be known as the iMelt. I can't see this in the current design.
 
C

carmenodie

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2008
775
0
someone beat me to it. Yeah, I know Apple is going to be making its own pc chips far away from intel. With 32 billion in the bank and a market cap in excess of 156 billion...

When this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're going to see some serious ****!
 
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