The Cortex A8 CPU is under 4mm^2 on a 65nm process, including L1 cache. 55nm is now common in the foundries, 45nm is available, and 40nm is a half-node that products will be made on soon. That means that <2mm^2 of die space for a fairly decent CPU later this year, including media instructions. I assume that A9 isn't that much larger. Of course you would have to add on a shared L2 which would add some 10mm^2 for 512KB (a rough guess given that the L2 on the 45nm Atom is about 2/5ths of the 25mm^2 die and 512KB). I think two cores is more likely that four initially because of the cache die area issue.
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First Multi-Core Mobile Platform Demonstrated
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The Cortex A8 CPU is under 4mm^2 on a 65nm process, including L1 cache. 55nm is now common in the foundries, 45nm is available, and 40nm is a half-node that products will be made on soon. That means that <2mm^2 of die space for a fairly decent CPU later this year, including media instructions. I assume that A9 isn't that much larger. Of course you would have to add on a shared L2 which would add some 10mm^2 for 512KB (a rough guess given that the L2 on the 45nm Atom is about 2/5ths of the 25mm^2 die and 512KB). I think two cores is more likely that four initially because of the cache die area issue.
I knew it!!! Quad-core iphone nanos coming this year. 
The regular iphone will just see a memory bump
The regular iphone will just see a memory bump
He is so lucky. I'm just a regular run-of-the-mill wig. Nothing fancy, just some bangs and a braid in the back.
The snappiness of the iPhone/iPod touch is more limited by 128mb of ram and the need to swap out to the flash mem every time you switch programs. Complex programs might even need to swap bits in and out on the fly.
Apple may have taken ARM development in house because they want to speed up communications between the cpu, ram, flash and gpu. More cores or ram means more power usage, but packing one core+ram+gpu on a single package with fast interlinks could give you the same boost with better battery life.
Of course it's running Symbian; that is the superior mobile OS.
Sure, watch more pr0n videos at once; maybe even record and encode on the fly!
Sure, watch more pr0n videos at once; maybe even record and encode on the fly!
I would be very surprised to see any A9 phones out there this year. We're probably just going to start seeing availability of SoC's with the A9 at the end of this year. If apple could get a A9 based iphone out this year, it would decimate anything on the market. 720p video, flash support a breeze, multiple tasks, etc.
That being said, I'm expecting them to release an cortex A8 based device in the june/july time-frame. The pre is an A8 device as well, as was mentioned.
That being said, I'm expecting them to release an cortex A8 based device in the june/july time-frame. The pre is an A8 device as well, as was mentioned.
Instead of multi-core, how about a battery that lasts longer. Why do I need dual processors to run my ifart program or use my phone as a "level". It's not like it's going to make the phone "level" any faster.
A multi-core iphone with crappy "limited-functionality" apps is like taking viagra and watching Dr. Phil just for the guests. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE - and is a bit creepy.
A multi-core iphone with crappy "limited-functionality" apps is like taking viagra and watching Dr. Phil just for the guests. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE - and is a bit creepy.
When you put this in context of time, it is pretty amazing. Especially because of size of electronics involved.
These iPhones are about as powerful as floor computers from 10 years ago, though the floor models were outfitted with far more stuff to allow greater productivity (outputs, inputs, etc). We could see iPhone 2019 being as powerful as a MacPro 2008, minus perhaps storage and other obvious hardware capabilities, but who knows?
Having these sorts of processors in small devices makes an ultra-light tablet (under 1 lb.) very possible. It's just a shame everyone has been waiting for a couple years and seen nothing special from Apple. If they were hoping to open a tablet market you would think Apple would do the Edisonian business model and advertise it liberally 3-6 months before release.
Summer iPhones might be quite amazing.
These iPhones are about as powerful as floor computers from 10 years ago, though the floor models were outfitted with far more stuff to allow greater productivity (outputs, inputs, etc). We could see iPhone 2019 being as powerful as a MacPro 2008, minus perhaps storage and other obvious hardware capabilities, but who knows?
Having these sorts of processors in small devices makes an ultra-light tablet (under 1 lb.) very possible. It's just a shame everyone has been waiting for a couple years and seen nothing special from Apple. If they were hoping to open a tablet market you would think Apple would do the Edisonian business model and advertise it liberally 3-6 months before release.
Summer iPhones might be quite amazing.
I hear these A9 Cortex cores will be using a special instruction set optimized for the ifart. It's called the cortexfarter and should bring multifarting and switching between farts to a new level of speed. If these cores go into the iphone we are going to have ourselves not just a smart fart phone, but a premium ultra mobile fart powerhouse.
I hear these A9 Cortex cores will be using a special instruction set optimized for the ifart. It's called the cortexfarter and should bring multifarting and switching between farts to a new level of speed. If these cores go into the iphone we are going to have ourselves not just a smart fart phone, but a premium ultra mobile fart powerhouse.
I can't wait. Maybe then they can release the Miley Cyrus app . The app is a life like representation of her and when you shake the phone, she is violently tossed side to side with realistic damage inflicted. It's an app that will incorporate the new multi-core technology when you shake the phone really fast. Their tagline is "Shake the sh*t out her a*s".
Multi-core doesn't need to mean twice the full power, it can mean the same overall processing ability at lower clockspeeds, which actually leads to a power consumption drop.
In addition consider moving to 45nm, which could have a higher leakage power (i.e., the hotter the die, the more power leaks, so running slower = cooler = less power use) despite peak power savings therefore instead of 1 core at 1GHz it might make sense to have two at 600MHz.
The 2009 iPhone might have A8, it might just be the same SoC it has right now but on 45nm, it could be two ARM11s, it could be a custom implementation of the ARM ISA. It depends on where PA Semi are with their work. I wouldn't expect massive processing power boosts - maybe 2x faster overall, maybe far better graphics and media processor capability.
If the media processing capability is good, you're also looking at the next Apple TV platform.
The current iPhone already has multiple processor cores. The application CPU is unlikely to be the only processor directly controlling all the hardware, including all of the gsm radios, wifi radio, bluetooth radio, media decoders, gfx tile pipeline, usb port, camera and touch sensors.
Yes, the iPhone has an ARM9 in the baseband CPU, and an ARM7 or ARM9 in the wireless/bluetooth chip, as well as the ARM11 in the main SoC.
This article is talking about symmetric multiprocessor, i.e., classical SMP like your desktop machine (if it's dual/quad core or CPU). That's 2x ARM11s, or more likely 2x ARM Cortex cores. It will still have the asymmetric ARM cores in the other components running their embedded firmware stacks.
I'm just really excited for the day when an all-in-one device like the iPhone can replace my day to day computing needs by being a mobile workstation. Both at home and at work I could have a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and a wireless display (conceivable with the next iteration of bluetooth). When I sit down at my desk, I could just put the iPhone in the middle of it and it would connect to both the display and keyboard and BAM!
Of course, I would still retain my MBP for anything processor intensive, but it's certainly an interesting idea to think of the iPhone as being a primary computer. It's already powerful enough to do most of what most people use their computers for with a decent amount of speed. I would just like to see the wireless keyboard/display (or even a dock would suffice for the time being) and a UI that could handle the switch from iPhone interface to keyboard.
Perhaps then the iPhone itself could be used as a multi-touch trackpad?
hmmmmm....
Of course, I would still retain my MBP for anything processor intensive, but it's certainly an interesting idea to think of the iPhone as being a primary computer. It's already powerful enough to do most of what most people use their computers for with a decent amount of speed. I would just like to see the wireless keyboard/display (or even a dock would suffice for the time being) and a UI that could handle the switch from iPhone interface to keyboard.
Perhaps then the iPhone itself could be used as a multi-touch trackpad?
hmmmmm....
Ι don't get this can you explain, surely unlike the main arms the others must be fractions of the power...
They're embedded. The main phone has no access to them apart from the hardware interface that they provide.
Yes, the other ARMs are low power, and that's ideal for the networking parts which are active more often than the CPU (e.g., in your pocket the baseband has to listen for incoming texts and phone calls).
You can't run iPhone application software on them. You can upgrade their embedded firmware via software update. They're a hardware function partially written in software running on an embedded CPU so that it can be updated. That's how Draft-N wireless gets updated to Full-N eventually.
I know no one is going to like this, but Sony-Ericson should get a patent on using Multi-Core processors in mobile devices, after all if Apple can have a patent on multi-touch in a mobile device, then why not be able to be able to get a patent on Multi-Core in a mobile device?
Title
The title to this article is completely inaccurate. This is talking about using SMP for the first time not multi-core. Multi-core has been in use for a very long time. SMP, using two identical cores that can access that same cache has not.
For most embedded applications using custom cores for each application makes more sense.
The title to this article is completely inaccurate. This is talking about using SMP for the first time not multi-core. Multi-core has been in use for a very long time. SMP, using two identical cores that can access that same cache has not.
For most embedded applications using custom cores for each application makes more sense.
SO..... quad core iPhone in June..... quad core PCs since 6 months ago..... quad core Macbook Pros in two years
This is the new Apple I guess.
This is the new Apple I guess.