Am I the only one that wants a single core A5?

[boss.king]

As far as I know, a dual-core processor would improve battery life because it would result in lower stress on each of the cores (basically a lazy dual core does what a hard working dual core of a greater rating does with less power consumption, if that makes sense). Can someone explain what the technical aspects of this?

 

[CylonGlitch]

To clarify, I wasn't talking about disabling the second core, I was talking about Apple producing an A5sc part for the next iPhone that physically didn't have a second core. Half as many transistors means a significant reduction in power drawn by the chip. The fact that the second core in a dual core CPU is often unloaded doesn't mean it draws no current, leakage current is a big issue in today's semiconductors.

It sounds as if I am in the minority here although not completely alone.

- Julian

Julian, The rule of thumb is that the more a transistor toggles, the more power it will be using, and thus, in a good design the transistors toggle only when the section of the chips are powered up and running. Todays processors, and many other chips, have aways of not only disabling the clock to large sections of the design but also, can power them down. When powered down the leakage current approaches zero. Thus a more modern processor of today, even with dual or quad cores can be more efficient then a single processor of yesterday. Additionally, since the power management functions are quite advanced, having the additional transistors on the die are not necessarily drawing much additional current. Thus, although I see why it could be seen as a benefit to have a single core processor, based on a modern design, you really are not going to save much power overall.

Will you save power? Possibly, but at the same time, it can prevent Apple from moving forward with the iOS development. If they have a Single Core A5 phone and a dual core A5 phone, that means that the iOS has to be very carefully tailored around the single A5 core because that is the lowest common denominator. (They will just turn off major features in iOS5 for the iPhone4, it will be focused on the iPhone5 -- 3gs customers, be ready to be out dated).