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Apple Testing A5X Variant in iPhone Prototype Disguised in iPhone 4/4S Body?

Intarweb said:
60fps camera please kthanksbye
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Other smartphone cameras can barely compete with the iPhone 4S's camera as it is. Do you REALLY need 60fps in a PHONE?

All videos I've taken with my 4S look pretty great at 30fps. I don't see a need to double the frame rate.

Do you forget that the original iPhone and 3G don't even capture video? They'd be happy with 15fps, as long as it was video...
 
Theres no way in hell an A5X variant will hit the iPhone.

1. A5X chip uses more power than the entire iPhone 4
2. iPhone 5 doesnt need quad GPU
3. No bigger screen - Steve Jobs himself designed this iPhone

It's more likely A5 itself will feature in the new iPhone. This is Apple folks, they only upgrade what they need when they need. I think the new body, iOS6 and 1GB will be stars of the show.
 
Shuri said:
Well it's not as fragile as people believe. My Dad dropped his 4S once.. Not a single scratch.

And I drop my 3G like all the time (I guess subliminally I want to get rid of it ;) )... Nothing.

The 4 design looks awesome but I have to admit the 3G design is easier to hold.
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This is just not the case, I dropped my iPhone 4 many times and it never broke, but it sure as Hell got plenty of scratches. My iPhone 4S was dropped in a case on a flat piece of concrete walkway leading up to the IKEA in Paramus NJ and the screen shattered all the way to the digitizer.

I was holding my friends iPhone as I was walking into the Corning Glass Museum and slipped and dropped her iPhone 4S on the ground, the glass did not break but it took a chunk off the edge. My ex has already broken three screens since her 3GS.

I've never encountered a phone other than the old Nokia 8890 (the flex cable would constantly tear under the screen) that would break and mar so easily. It would be nice if Apple would use ceramic on their next phone.
 
Considering the battery requirements and the extra heat, as seen in the iPad 3, I cannot see how this chip can make into the iPhone.
 
TMay said:
Possibly, but Apple hasn't done a shrink to date, and iPhone volume would suggest that a more specific 28 nm design is appropriate. Apple has the resources and volume to tailor a design for either device so I would argue that the 28nm will be a clean slate design rather than a shrink.

Hence, I believe that the A6 is by definition the first 28nm design. Whether it will be available for the iPhone 5 or for the next iPad (mini) would be the question.
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It is not about resources. It is about time and reducing risk.

You move to a new process with a known design.
You make a new design with a known process.

For Intel, which always follows this rule, this is called "tick-tock"
 
nickn said:
The 543MP4 would be more then needed, but remember, the iPhone is one of the most expensive phones for sale. If apple is going to continue to charge such a premium for the device, the hardware should be as cutting edge as possible.
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Past the point of reason. Too big, too hot, too much battery use with too little room left for battery. The return on investment is atrocious.
 
I think this will be a tick-tock thing. Test the A5X in the iPad, then make a die shrink version, maybe with only 2 graphics cores or 2 associated with display and two associated with CPU co-processing, all at a lower frequency to reduce heat and power requirement. That's what all the rumors outside of Apple in the fab and electronics firms point to, for me.

Rocketman
 
Raftysworld said:
Seriously though, if the next iPhone has an A5X, that's pretty disappointing.
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Not really.

When is the A5 slow ? Even if they simply use the A5X but keep it at 1ghz (unlike the A5 at 800mhz on the 4S) it would be an excellent boost, and it would bring balance along the IOS range for development.

It just makes more sense at the moment to use the A5X. The redesign and 4G will be the new selling points for the iPhone 5.

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Rocketman said:
A5X in the iPad, then make a die shrink version, maybe with only 2 graphics cores
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But with just 2 graphics cores its just an A5!
 
MacAttacka said:
Theres no way in hell an A5X variant will hit the iPhone.

1. A5X chip uses more power than the entire iPhone 4
2. iPhone 5 doesnt need quad GPU
3. No bigger screen - Steve Jobs himself designed this iPhone

It's more likely A5 itself will feature in the new iPhone. This is Apple folks, they only upgrade what they need when they need. I think the new body, iOS6 and 1GB will be stars of the show.
Click to expand...

The A5X consumes a lot of power because it is built on an old process. If the design is shrunk to a current process, it would hopefully result in lower power requirements.

If the design is shrunk, it might run faster while still allowing for reduced power consumption.

Graphics is not just about how many pixels the screen has. Games could certainly take full advantage of the additional 3D power.
 
RedGeminiPA said:
Other smartphone cameras can barely compete with the iPhone 4S's camera as it is. Do you REALLY need 60fps in a PHONE?

All videos I've taken with my 4S look pretty great at 30fps. I don't see a need to double the frame rate.

Do you forget that the original iPhone and 3G don't even capture video? They'd be happy with 15fps, as long as it was video...
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Point and shoot cameras are doing 60fps minimum. The next iPhone should be able to do 60fps.
 
Stridder44 said:
Outside of being able to use your phone as a credit/debit card, I have yet to see any worthwhile example uses for NFC. And even then, a lot of people seem to be freaking out about NFC payments due to the security issues.
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Japan has been using it for years, especially at vending machines. It's secure, for certain, and many stores already have "Blink" easy pay systems, it wouldn't take much to push the envelope especially with so many iPhone users. I have a feeling the next iPhone will blow sales even further.

longofest said:
For the first time, NFC could legitimately happen in the iPhone 5, as TI has put out a combo chip that serves up WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC all in one package. Apple would need that kind of combo-chip in order to fit it into the iPhone. The thing is, they currently use Broadcomm for WiFi and Bluetooth, so they'd have to switch suppliers.

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless-LAN/802.11-Wireless-LAN-Solutions/BCM4330
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Yup, Broadcomm has been the chip used in just about all Apple products, from desktops, notebooks to iDevices. You're right, unless Broadcomm has a new chip under wraps, that would be the biggest hurdle.
 
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theSeb said:
Considering the battery requirements and the extra heat, as seen in the iPad 3, I cannot see how this chip can make into the iPhone.
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It won't be the iPad version of the A5X in the next iPhone. There is also the size issue in addition to the points you made. That is why they are testing a variant, as mentioned in the original article (excerpt quoted below). The variation could be many things. Best case scenario is a die shrink.

MacRumors said:
...that Apple is internally testing new iPhone hardware that is based on a variant of the A5X system-on-a-chip used in the new iPad...
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Intarweb said:
Point and shoot cameras are doing 60fps minimum. The next iPhone should be able to do 60fps.
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This has to be one of the most ridiculous 'wants' I have seen so far.

If you need 60 fps. Buy something to do it.

My £1k D-SLR barely does 60FPS as it is!

The iP6 or whatever it will be named will be as good as the current technology allows it to be.

REMEMBER: Technology needs a shakedown period. Just because a new tech might come out 3 months before launch does NOT mean it will be included!
 
ECUpirate44 said:
I'm thinking thinner iPhone 4 like design.
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I can't see what would be wrong with that. It's a classic design ;-). And while I would have expected the next iPhone iteration to have been the perfect opportunity to show off a mad new processor in the form of a 4 core A6, maybe in an iPhone that would be overkill, and a processor that currently runs hi res graphics on a larger screen with plenty of grunt to spare ( aka A5x) will power an iPhone better than a (new, barely used) Android humming along on four cores. 1gb of RAM would help a lot too after all.
 
MacAttacka said:
Theres no way in hell an A5X variant will hit the iPhone.

1. A5X chip uses more power than the entire iPhone 4
2. iPhone 5 doesnt need quad GPU
3. No bigger screen - Steve Jobs himself designed this iPhone

It's more likely A5 itself will feature in the new iPhone. This is Apple folks, they only upgrade what they need when they need. I think the new body, iOS6 and 1GB will be stars of the show.
Click to expand...

They could implement a die shrink for the iPhone variant of the chip. That would result in less power consumption.

I do think it's unlikely though. The A5X has no advantage over the A5 asides for graphics performance. And the iPhone resolution does not necessitate a graphics performance bump compared to the A5.
 
Stridder44 said:
Outside of being able to use your phone as a credit/debit card, I have yet to see any worthwhile example uses for NFC. And even then, a lot of people seem to be freaking out about NFC payments due to the security issues.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone freak out? It's no different than using a credit card.

My relatives in Florida use their Android phones with NFC all the time to pay for gas, snacks, etc.

They also use it to move photos, contacts, app links, etc between phones by using Android Beam over NFC. It's pretty cool. You can be looking at a web page and go, "hey look at this", and touch the phones together to open the browser on the second phone with the same page... without having to open a special app.
 
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WHERE IS THE DAM ARM A6 CHIPS is there no rumors on this chip at all. :mad:

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Raftysworld said:
Seriously though, if the next iPhone has an A5X, that's pretty disappointing.
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Big time! That would say a lot of how slow Apple is going to come out with new innovative hardware. :(

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WhoDaKat said:
I'm pretty sure you answered your own question.

I concur with the original poster, that the number of cores means nothing. At the same time though, that is not a desire to move backwards. The original iPhone was fluid, but as you say the software it runs is advancing so moving backwards would not keep the iPhone "fluid". My point and I believe the original posters point was that they don't sit around and go how do we make this thing with 100 cores? They say, does it work? Great, by the way, how many cores did it need?

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Would it make you feel better if they called the A5X variant the A6? I mean, what would be the difference as long as it runs appropriately for the device?
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A lot more than your mind can comprehend when it comes to heat and power consumption. How about that. If its a A5X iPhone then the iPhone 4S would show no real difference in performance. iPHone A5X means nothing since it has only better GPU and nothing else, or have you not been reading any other news but MacRummors?
 
MacAttacka said:
Theres no way in hell an A5X variant will hit the iPhone.

1. A5X chip uses more power than the entire iPhone 4
2. iPhone 5 doesnt need quad GPU
3. No bigger screen - Steve Jobs himself designed this iPhone

It's more likely A5 itself will feature in the new iPhone. This is Apple folks, they only upgrade what they need when they need. I think the new body, iOS6 and 1GB will be stars of the show.
Click to expand...

You could be right, not that I like it but maybe Apple just can't make the A6 work as well as they need it when it comes to production. I personally don't yet see an advantage to just a little faster A5 considering Apple is not going to up the screen because it really does not need it. So if they don't bring down the size of the Arm A5X from 45 to say 32nm then I see no real incentive to move away from a very good phone like the iPhone 4S.
 
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Raftysworld said:
..I just said it is disappointing that it would be using essentially the same processor from 1 and 1/2 years ago. The Cortex A15, a dual-core chip, would be a BIG step up without having to move to quad core, for instance.
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Exactly.. I hate all the hype around the quad-core Tegra 3 when it gets spanked by the next-generation dual-core chips from Qualcomm/Ti/Samsung. Hopefully the next iPhone gets an Apple A6 (Cortex-A15 based)
 
winterspan said:
Exactly.. I hate all the hype around the quad-core Tegra 3 when it gets spanked by the next-generation dual-core chips from Qualcomm/Ti/Samsung. Hopefully the next iPhone gets an Apple A6 (Cortex-A15 based)
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Few points. TI's A15 solution won't be out until next year. Tegra 4 with A15 is expected then.

Samsung's A15 chip is supposed to go into production this quarter, but we haven't heard anything recently.

Qualcomm's chip isn't A15 based. It is a fully custom chip since they fully license ARM libraries. It's pretty close to the A15 in performance though (3.2 vs 3.5 DMIPS/MHz compared to 2.5 on A9).
 
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