iPhone 6S to have major CPU bump (with links)

[MartinAppleGuy]

Reports suggest the A9 with be in a 'Big Little' type config with two 1.7Ghz cores and two 1.2Ghz cores. Here is an amazing read about the reports as well as stating a little bit of the history of progression in Apples 'A' series SoC's:

http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/14/opinion-what-to-expect-from-apples-a9-chip/

 

[Flow39]

Saw this yesterday too! If Apple pulls this off, I think they'll have a beast of a phone.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Saw this yesterday too! If Apple pulls this off, I think they'll have a beast of a phone.

What I am more looking forward to is the iPads A9X variant of it (as the A6X was a lot better than the A6; and the A8X is leaps and bounds faster than the A8). Seeing as this A9 just beats the A8X in terms of multi-core with around 4,800; I see the A9X defiantly getting over 5,000; and very likely over 5,500 on its way to 6,000. This really will put it on par with a dual core i5!

In terms of what the A9X SoC may consist of CPU wise; I'd see them either going for all 4 cores being clocked at 1.7Ghz or higher; or just having double the iPhone 6S (4 1.7Ghz cores and 4 1.2Ghz cores). That, multi core wise, would achieve a Geekbench score over 6,000 and possilbe even get close to 7,000. Probarly wouldn't happen due to thermal constants; but seeing as the A8X (that is as fast as the 'should-be-more efficient' A9); it may very well be possible and more to do with cost effectiveness more than anything else:

La iPad Pro

 

[nordique]

If true or accurate, those are fantastic benchmarks for a smartphone!

Huge upgrade over the A7/A8, which is just what I was hoping for.

Thank you for sharing this link

 

[stormchaser]

Read this too today. I really hope this is true.

 

[mpavilion]

Ha ha, they're really hedging their bets:

"While we wouldn’t characterize the numbers we’ve seen as reliable..."

"An unsubstantiated tip suggests..."

"These numbers could be completely fabricated..."

 

[techspin]

Good, it better run like butter once they hammer out these iOS bugs.

 

[Applejuiced]

Any news on the ram?

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[CEmajr]

Hope it is true as well. Performance is the biggest weakness of the 6 Plus.

 

[lee714]

2GB LPDDR4

How certain are you?

Hope it is true as well. Performance is the biggest weakness of the 6 Plus.

For games? I've been using it for texting/calling/web browsing/apps and it's been speedy. 0 hiccups other than when I get a few text messages and the vibrate goes off on all of them.

 

[CEmajr]

How certain are you?


For games? I've been using it for texting/calling/web browsing/apps and it's been speedy. 0 hiccups other than when I get a few text messages and the vibrate goes off on all of them.

For general usage. It freezes up sometimes when texting or doing other simple tasks to where it takes the screen a while to catch up with my button presses. Other times the phone just locks up completely for a few seconds to where not even the home button or sleep button can do anything. It's sort of like a 5-8 second delayed reaction at times. Also it has major problems with multitasking to where apps need to refresh constantly. This can be very frustrating with some apps where you leave for a few seconds and come back to it only to see that what you were working on has been refreshed and you have to start over. I've been using iPhones since the iPhone 3G but I have to admit that the 6 Plus is the worst one performance-wise that I've ever owned, at least at the point where it was the latest iPhone on the market.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Every update huge gains of performance are predicted. But in reality it is just another incremental bump. Seems the OS demand more CPU power each upgrade so most of the additional CPU power is absorbed.

But Apple is touting a much improved OS9 that is supposed to be lean and clean so maybe we will see a good bump. I will have to wait and see!

 

[soupcan]

If this is true then I'm even more ready to open my wallet on the 6S.

 

[EdgardasB]

But what about battery life? Performance wise current iPhone models are more than enough. Talking about 6+ performance issues, blame RAM amount and FHD resolution comparing to 6 or 5S.

 

[Small White Car]

Every update huge gains of performance are predicted. But in reality it is just another incremental bump. Seems the OS demand more CPU power each upgrade so most of the additional CPU power is absorbed.

What? If the hardware gets a big bump and then the software uses that bump you can't just say it "doesn't count" as an improvement.

That means your phone is doing things it couldn't have done before. That's the literal definition of a performance gain.

 

[Newtons Apple]

What? If the hardware gets a big bump and then the software uses that bump you can't just say it "doesn't count" as an improvement.

That means your phone is doing things it couldn't have done before. That's the literal definition of a performance gain.

I have had every iPhone they have sold and each tells us how much faster everything will be and it turns out to not be earth shattering. the "rumored" specs sound good but I will believe it when I see it.

You may get excited as you wish and I hope it you will be in blown away with the increased performance.

 

[Jetcat3]

I have had every iPhone they have sold and each tells us how much faster everything will be and it turns out to not be earth shattering. the "rumored" specs sound good but I will believe it when I see it.

You may get excited as you wish and I hope it you will be in blown away with the increased performance.

Hey y'all, I've seen quite a few leaks for the A9 and I feel more confused than ever. There were a couple of leaked Geekbench 3 scores that had the A9 pegged as a tri-core 1.5Ghz scoring 1821 single core and 4,577 multi. Essentially the A8X with 2GB's of ram. Another one has the A9 at 2.0Ghz and only 1 GB of ram which seems fake to me. The final one has it listed as a dual core with scores posting 2,030 for single core and 3,500 multi. Any idea what to think at this point? I would be WAY excited if this article comes to fruition! That would be iPad Air 2 performance on steroids! Thanks.

 

[nordique]

Hey y'all, I've seen quite a few leaks for the A9 and I feel more confused than ever. There were a couple of leaked Geekbench 3 scores that had the A9 pegged as a tri-core 1.5Ghz scoring 1821 single core and 4,577 multi. Essentially the A8X with 2GB's of ram. Another one has the A9 at 2.0Ghz and only 1 GB of ram which seems fake to me. The final one has it listed as a dual core with scores posting 2,030 for single core and 3,500 multi. Any idea what to think at this point? I would be WAY excited if this article comes to fruition! That would be iPad Air 2 performance on steroids! Thanks.

We won't really know until the phone is out and actual benchmarks across multiple platforms are performed. There are always fake leaks every year, and every year some of them are wildly inaccurate.

We can only use past "S" updates, based off history, and guess that this one will bring a similar big performance boost

(in the past with "S" models, internals were upgraded significantly: 3GS was 2x as fast as 3G, had 2X RAM, significantly better GPU ; 4S had a 7x more powerful GPU (!) than 4/3GS, dual core CPU architecture and 2x as fast as 4 ; 5s brought 64 bit architecture, co-motion processor, ~2-2.5x CPU & GPU (depending on benchmark) over 5/5c)

The hope is the 6s will be a similar large bump, though that remains to be seen. Until then, best to treat all of these "leaks" as speculation. Some may be more valid vs others; as you noted there is doubt an Apple smartphone would be clocked @ a 2.0GHz processor and that "leak" is likely fake. If these benchmarks in this thread's link are accurate or true, then they point to a large processor upgrade. But still best to treat it as speculation until confirmed

 

[Andres Cantu]

Hey y'all, I've seen quite a few leaks for the A9 and I feel more confused than ever. There were a couple of leaked Geekbench 3 scores that had the A9 pegged as a tri-core 1.5Ghz scoring 1821 single core and 4,577 multi. Essentially the A8X with 2GB's of ram. Another one has the A9 at 2.0Ghz and only 1 GB of ram which seems fake to me. The final one has it listed as a dual core with scores posting 2,030 for single core and 3,500 multi. Any idea what to think at this point? I would be WAY excited if this article comes to fruition! That would be iPad Air 2 performance on steroids! Thanks.

I expect at most 10% more than the A8X for each Geekbench score.

 

[0928001]

This isn't even a report, this is an opinion piece. I doubt they'll implement a big-little architecture as they're already cramming a ridiculous amount of stuff on the SoC already.

I do agree there is more than likely a move to 14/16nm but I think they will make the 2 Cyclone cores bigger to account for another 25% increase in CPU (as evidenced by GeekBench), along with with whatever Imagination's latest GPU design is for a 50-100% increase (we all know the 6+ needs that). The cores are fast enough as is, and if they actually iron out iOS with iOS9, the need for more CPU won't really be there. I don't think Apple is in a spec race. If you actually look at the SoC's right next to each other, there really isn't a huge difference in size.

Keep in mind, the battery leak for the 6S shows a smaller battery (1715mAh vs 1810 for the 6). A die shrink to 14/16 would help accomplish the need for that, so the SOC improvements should be good, but not outrageous.

Thread title is misleading BTW.

 

[scapegoat81]

This isn't even a report, this is an opinion piece. I doubt they'll implement a big-little architecture as they're already cramming a ridiculous amount of stuff on the SoC already. I do agree there is more than likely a move to 16nm but I think they will make the 2 cores bigger to account for another 25% increase in CPU (as evidenced by GeekBench), along with with whatever Imagination's latest GPU design is for a 50-100% increase. The cores are fast enough as is, and if they actually iron out iOS with iOS9, the need for more CPU won't really be there. I don't think Apple is in a spec race.

Keep in mind, the battery leak for the 6S shows a smaller battery (1715mAh vs 1810 for the 6). A die shrink to 14/16 would help accomplish the need for that, so the SOC improvements should be good, but not outrageous.

Thread title is misleading BTW.

I really hope that smaller battery leak is BS. Having the same or worse battery life isn't necessarily an upgrade IMO

 

[stevemiller]

Sometimes I feel like they'll find ways to code crap so that you'll need a 12 core monster benching faster than Mac pros just to be able to type on the latest iOS.

 

[C DM]

Basically no one really knows much, and certainly nothing for sure. Mostly hopes, expectations, wishful thinking, and the like for the most part.

 

[Derived]

Every update huge gains of performance are predicted. But in reality it is just another incremental bump. Seems the OS demand more CPU power each upgrade so most of the additional CPU power is absorbed.

But Apple is touting a much improved OS9 that is supposed to be lean and clean so maybe we will see a good bump. I will have to wait and see!

That's 100% not true, just look at the numbers. The performance of the iPhone has been increasing exponentially since it was launched.