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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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a5chip.jpg


CNET reports on a new research note from analyst Linley Gwennap, who believes that custom circuitry in Apple's A5 system-on-a-chip including "earSmart" noise cancellation technology from Audience is the reason why Siri is currently an iPhone 4S-only feature. Gwennap cites Audience's S-1 filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month in advance of the company's initial public offering in backing up his analysis.
Audience revealed details of its Apple partnership in January, when it filed paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Teardown work from iFixit and Chipworks revealed a dedicated Audience chip in the iPhone 4, but the iPhone 4S integrates Audience's "EarSmart" technology directly into the A5 processor, the company's S-1 filing said. [...]

"Even after accounting for the dual Cortex-A9 CPUs and the large GPU that provides the A5 with industry-leading 3D graphics performance, the remaining die area seems too large for the usual mundane housekeeping logic," Gwennap said in a report yesterday. "To reduce system cost and eliminate the extra package required for the Audience chip, Apple cut a deal to integrate the noise-reduction technology directly into its A5 processor, which appears in the iPhone 4S."
The earSmart technology found in the iPhone 4S is said to be significantly better at suppressing background noise than the technology used in the iPhone 4, enabling Siri to more easily pick out the user's voice.

Audience's standalone chip for the iPhone 4 was detailed last year, and teardown specialists quickly noted that a similar chip was missing from the iPhone 4S, with the presumption being that it had been integrated directly into the A5.

audience_earsmart.jpg



Audience outlines this development in its S-1, noting that it is now receiving royalties from Apple that will be lower than the payments it had previously received for the dedicated chips. Also of interest is Audience's disclosure that it has licensed its next-generation noise cancellation intellectual property to Apple, although Apple is under no obligation to use it in future devices.
Commencing in the three months ended December 31, 2011, Apple has integrated our processor IP [intellectual property] in certain of its mobile phones. Pursuant to our agreement, this OEM [original equipment manufacturer] will pay us a royalty, on a quarterly basis, for the use of our processor IP for all mobile phones in which it is used. We have granted a similar license to this OEM for a new generation of processor IP; however, this OEM is not obligated to incorporate our processor IP into any of its current or future mobile devices.
As part of the risk factors accompanying the regulatory filing, Audience notes that Apple and its contract manufacturers Foxconn and Protek represent roughly 80% of the company's revenue, and with payments from Apple decreasing under the new licensing arrangement, Audience's revenue could decline if it can not continue to bring new customers on board. Audience also acknowledges that it could see significant losses if Apple in the future develops its own technology or if it opts for a different solution such as noise cancellation technology integrated into baseband chips instead of Apple's own A-series chips.

Article Link: Audience's 'earSmart' Technology Explains Siri's iPhone 4S Exclusivity
 

getinline1

macrumors member
Oct 21, 2008
33
14
And yet Siri works fine on jailbroken devices with Spire.

Nowhere does it say that it will not work at all on pre-4S devices. There is a difference between working and working well. I suspect that if you took an iPhone 4S and a jailbroken iPhone 4 into a noisy environment, the 4S would have a much higher success rate.

Also, the 4S has a much louder speaker which makes it easier to hear feedback from Siri.
 

theBB

macrumors 68020
Jan 3, 2006
2,453
3
This may make sense. The accuracy of Siri was not very good when I used a bluetooth headset.
 

PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
Nowhere does it say that it will not work at all on pre-4S devices. There is a difference between working and working well. I suspect that if you took an iPhone 4S and a jailbroken iPhone 4 into a noisy environment, the 4S would have a much higher success rate.

Also, the 4S has a much louder speaker which makes it easier to hear feedback from Siri.

completely agree. even in talking on the phone with my 4S, people on the other end can hear me much clearer and no outside noise in comparison to previous models.
 

Andronicus

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2008
819
817
Yah right…

We all know why Siri was iPhone 4S exclusive (except the blindly loyal) $$$ it was all about tha Benjamins.
 

panerista

macrumors G5
Oct 20, 2011
12,679
10,516
Austin, TX
completely agree. even in talking on the phone with my 4S, people on the other end can hear me much clearer and no outside noise in comparison to previous models.

Apple's pitch is that Siri is only available on the 4S. It doesn't comment on whether or not the iPhone 4 or 3GS can handle it. Apple doesn't want to make statements it may either A) Regret or B) Contradict later. They will be as vague as possible and only allow customers to know what they need to know.
 

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Yet another pathetic excuse to cover Apple ass. Sorry but it been proven time and time again how much BS there is. Siri is only on the 4S to force people to upgrade.

This has been proven time and time again.
 

PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
Yet another pathetic excuse to cover Apple ass. Sorry but it been proven time and time again how much BS there is. Siri is only on the 4S to force people to upgrade.

This has been proven time and time again.

no one is being forced to upgrade. this is a bonus feature, not something that anyone needs. is it nice to have? sometimes yes. but by no means is it necessary for the device to function.
 

applesith

macrumors 68030
Jun 11, 2007
2,775
1,570
Manhattan
Yet another pathetic excuse to cover Apple ass. Sorry but it been proven time and time again how much BS there is. Siri is only on the 4S to force people to upgrade.

This has been proven time and time again.

No one is forcing anyone to upgrade. Want new features? Get a new phone. Nothing new with that idea.
 

unobtainium

macrumors 68030
Mar 27, 2011
2,592
3,855
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Yeah, I'm not sure why you all seem to take it for granted that Apple "owes" you free new features for your iPhone 4. If they were inordinately greedy they could just stop supporting older models when a new iPhone is released. Instead, iPhone 4 owners get basically every shiny new software feature available on the 4S, except one. Boo hoo. And now there's even a semi-plausible reason for that exclusion. Some people are just so entitled.
 

aristotle

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2007
1,768
5
Canada
Guaging by it's present inaccuracy, pardon me for finding this hard to believe.
You are not going to get much benefit if you are using it with a headset be it bluetooth or wired.

You have to be using the handset up at your ear in order for the dual microphones to be effective.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Yet another pathetic excuse to cover Apple ass. Sorry but it been proven time and time again how much BS there is. Siri is only on the 4S to force people to upgrade.

This has been proven time and time again.

You aren't forced to do anything.

Apple has given an explanation. And no one's really complaining about being "forced" into an iPhone 4S. In fact, it seems consumers quite voluntarily handed Apple their biggest quarter ever (which is what usually happens), driven primarily by iPhone 4S sales.
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,559
1,246
Cascadia
This may make sense. The accuracy of Siri was not very good when I used a bluetooth headset.

Same here. A headset that is just fine for conversations is TERRIBLE for Siri.

I said "Play playlist Haven't Heard Recently", and Siri came back with "I couldn't find playlist Food". Repeated twice more, enunciating more clearly, once with bigger gaps between words, once with smaller - no help. It insisted that "Haven't Heard Recently" was "Food"... Worked like a charm when I used the iPhone's built-in mic.
 

Shin3r

macrumors regular
Oct 4, 2007
126
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Funny how before the iPhone mobile phones rarely received updates and even then it was mainly bug fixes. Now everyone wants every new feature so they don't have to upgrade. Byt yet, companies like Samsung take forever to roll out updates period, if at all. I should know, I've owned a Samsung phone or two. If entitled people want to get mad at Apple that's fine I guess. But it makes people look foolish when they seem to only focus that attention on Apple. Everyone does it. Them's the facts folks. Ooh ooh, and no one FORCED you to buy the damn thing. Move on.
 
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