New iPad Pro's A10X Chip Revealed as First Manufactured Using TSMC's 10nm Process

[DNichter]

And I for one am glad my iPad is nothing at all like a Mac.

Totally agree here. I have moved to iOS only for my computing needs (Pro 10.5 and 7 Plus) and I couldn't be happier. macOS has grown extremely stale to me and has lost a lot of what made it fun to use when I first bought in (2006). I think iOS has a much stronger future.

 

[satchmo]

I think I'm good with my iPP 10.5 for the next 3 years. Yes I say this every year when I upgrade my iPad, but with the ultra smooth 120Hz display and the super fast processor, as well as 256GB storage, there's really nothing left that I would want in my iPad. But of course Apple is quite good at coming up with stuff you didn't know you wanted, such as the 120hz display which was quite a surprise.

The new 10nm process might explain the excellent battery life I'm getting, ~12hrs easily just media consumption. The 9.7 Pro I struggled to get 9-10. I definitely thought battery life was worse than the Air 2 when I got the iPP 9.7 last year.

Yes nothing left wanting. Until next year

OLED display, 3D Touch, removal of physical Home Button, Flexible screens.

Personally I wish 3D touch was on all of Apple's touch devices moving forward.

 

[lincolntran]

I think I'm good with my iPP 10.5 for the next 3 years. Yes I say this every year when I upgrade my iPad, but with the ultra smooth 120Hz display and the super fast processor, as well as 256GB storage, there's really nothing left that I would want in my iPad. But of course Apple is quite good at coming up with stuff you didn't know you wanted, such as the 120hz display which was quite a surprise.

The new 10nm process might explain the excellent battery life I'm getting, ~12hrs easily just media consumption. The 9.7 Pro I struggled to get 9-10. I definitely thought battery life was worse than the Air 2 when I got the iPP 9.7 last year.

Yes nothing left wanting. Until next year

Hehe, yeah I'm in the same boat as you. I thought my 27" iMac will be good for at least 2 - 3 years then they go a make the iMac Pro.....

 

[dingclancy23]

I am not really familiar with processor technology, but does this mean Apple has unequivocally leaped Intel in chip architecture? Coffee Lake will be a refined 14nm process, and if Apple is already shipping 10nm processors in the millions, then they are now at least a year ahead right?

That is why those Geekbench scores makes sense now when people say that the iPad Pro scores better than the highest end Macbook Pros, and when an iOS device can pull of AR in high fidelity with no fans, whereas the freaking Macbook has to throttle when playing 4k video.


Also what blows me away, is that the chip in iOS devices have better tech than what is on Macs.

 

[jiggad369]

And they say “no innovation”.
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I am not really familiar with processor technology, but does this mean Apple has unequivocally leaped Intel in chip architecture? Coffee Lake will be a refined 14nm process, and if Apple is already shipping 10nm processors in the millions, then they are now at least a year ahead right?

That is why those Geekbench scores makes sense now when people say that the iPad Pro scores better than the highest end Macbook Pros, and when an iOS device can pull of AR in high fidelity with no fans, whereas the freaking Macbook has to throttle when playing 4k video.


Also what blows me away, is that the chip in iOS devices have better tech than what is on Macs.

I’m gonna go ahead and guess Intel.

 

[lammylamchops]

I am not really familiar with processor technology, but does this mean Apple has unequivocally leaped Intel in chip architecture? Coffee Lake will be a refined 14nm process, and if Apple is already shipping 10nm processors in the millions, then they are now at least a year ahead right?

That is why those Geekbench scores makes sense now when people say that the iPad Pro scores better than the highest end Macbook Pros, and when an iOS device can pull of AR in high fidelity with no fans, whereas the freaking Macbook has to throttle when playing 4k video.


Also what blows me away, is that the chip in iOS devices have better tech than what is on Macs.

Not quite. TSMC's 10 nm process is only slightly better than Intel's 14 nm process in terms of transistor density while Intel's 10 nm process is going to be ~1.7x more dense than TSMC's 10 nm process.

A decent comparison can be found here: https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/6713-14nm-16nm-10nm-7nm-what-we-know-now.html

 

[MarkNY]

The speed of the A10X is what is really impressive about the new iPads. I have to think moving most of the Mac product line over to the A-series chips is inevitable. The economic argument is just too strong: the CPUs become effectively free to Apple. They've already committed to the R&D costs for the iOS products. The cost of producing a few more of these for Macs has to be really really small.

 

[FloatingBones]

As AnandTech pointed out, the A9, A8, and A7 were all iPhone chips that debuted a new process node at the time of their manufacturing, so it's unclear why Apple decided to fabricate a mid-generation X-series chip within an iPad on a new process node this time around.

Why? Because they can. And making a device that beats the Microsoft surface with higher performance and lower latency by a teeny bit more is worth it.

I have to think moving most of the Mac product line over to the A-series chips is inevitable. The economic argument is just too strong: the CPUs become effectively free to Apple. They've already committed to the R&D costs for the iOS products. The cost of producing a few more of these for Macs has to be really really small.

Whether or not they move to their own processors, the clear and present danger of moving to the line helps keep the price down on Intel chips. Even using an A-series chip for low-power operations on future Mac computers would make that threat even more real.

 

[dingclancy23]

Not quite. TSMC's 10 nm process is only slightly better than Intel's 14 nm process in terms of transistor density while Intel's 10 nm process is going to be ~1.7x more dense than TSMC's 10 nm process.

A decent comparison can be found here: https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/6713-14nm-16nm-10nm-7nm-what-we-know-now.html

That might be true, but in terms of shipment at scale, at least on Apple's side of things, the iPad already has a 10nm process, while it might take one more year for Apple to adopt Cannon Lake.

Also Samsung and Apple has a 10nm process already while Cannon Lake will be released at the end of the year. So Apple has at most a 5 month lead already.

Plus we cannot discount what A11 can bring as it can surely will be pegged at 10nm with higher density.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Processor capability will hopefully leapfrog until 2021-or-so, when the process of reducing further is hampered by physics and physical limitations needing a different system of constructing microcircuits. Hope for competition to push the manufacturing process forward quicker in the next 5 years.

Software might not take any huge leaps in these next 5 years, but power consumption and battery life should improve immensely.

 

[dingclancy23]

Processor capability will hopefully leapfrog until 2021-or-so, when the process of reducing further is hampered by physics and physical limitations needing a different system of constructing microcircuits. Hope for competition to push the manufacturing process forward quicker in the next 5 years.

Software might not take any huge leaps in these next 5 years, but power consumption and battery life should improve immensely.

We do not know that. Take Promotion for example. Craig Federighi said that they had Promotion running on a Mac Pro 3-4 years ago, and they were just waiting for the right hardware to get this feature into a mobile device.

Then you have ARKit and Core ML. You also have VR waiting for a bit more oomph to get into mobile devices at scale. And you also have Siri.

I think the roadmap for software is there and ready to make use of upcoming hardware. We won't get revolutionary browsers or breakthrough spreadsheets apps, but the next level of software is already here.

 

[Shanpdx]

Intel should be worried. within few years MacBooks might use these chips instead of X86/X64.

Compared to $300 Intel CPUs these should be much cheaper.

Another transition for MacOS?

 

[philosopherdog]

This thing freakin screams. The new iPad Pro is insanely fast and smooth. Can't wait to see this processor on the new phones.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I would have used Intel or some other.

Right. Because all the Apps in the App Store are Intel-based.
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Ipad is still just a big iphone it will never be a mac or close so its just for apps and fun, and ios 11 isnt amazing just more multitasking that you wouldnt use, i wish the ipad had more pro software

Why?

Afterall, it's "just a big iphone", right?
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Yeah but what real use is an ipad i have everything but an ipad i toke back the 10.5 one, all the screens are yellow tint and they just open apps like an iphone u can downloads files etc like a mac so its just an iphone with big screen

Quit Trolling.

 

[ksnell]

iPad OS is finally innovating.

Hoping one day it will run like a mac but with touch

If that was the goal all along why didn't they start with macOS and add touch? I don't disagree with you, but it appears they have different intentions.

 

[FrenchRoasted]

4 GB of RAM should be standard on all iPads.

 

[Constable Odo]

Is that the best Apple can do? Where's all the innovation gone at Apple? A10X... Meh.
/s

If Apple were a chip company, this would be a big deal, but because it's Apple, the tech industry is going to blow it off as being nothing special. How is this not innovation? It might be an evolutionary step but it's still very important. The tech-heads think Apple should be building smartphones that run on a singularity but that's just absolutely ridiculous. How many companies can make giant tech leaps every few years? I'm very satisfied with Apple's "improve and refine" strategy for new products. I realize the obstacles that a company of Apple's size has in terms of taking high risks. The smartphone critics will say Apple products are quite boring but they don't seem to realize the importance of things they can't see. The processor is the heart and soul of an iPhone or iPad and the more powerful it is, the better for users in terms of not having to wait for things to happen. I'm happy if a smaller-sized processor just increases battery life while keeping the same processing speed. I suppose I'm a lot easier to please than most investors and tech-heads. I just hope these new A10X chips can run AR apps like a champ and leave those Android smartphones in the dust.

 

[Mascots]

Apple gained massive amounts of space in that die on 10nm, but I'm excited to see what they do with it in the A11 as that will utilize that room effectively.

 

[LordVic]

How is this not innovation?

Because moving to a 10nm process has nothing really to do with Apple. That's 100% TMSC's innovation. it's their technology that allows for such tiny circuitry. All Apple designed was the circuitry of the chip, not the process in which the chips are made.

also, it's not considered innovative because TMSC isn't the first FAB to move to 10nm process. Samsung is already producing chips on 10nm processes.

 

[Constable Odo]

Question is will these chips one day be the main cpu of a Mac Book. Impressive what Apple have achieved.

Oh, boy. I can already hear the cries of hate and despair when Apple decides to stop using an Intel processor on a notebook computer. It will instantly be considered a failure. People seem to hate change when it comes to Apple making an unpopular decision. I'm sure it will happen eventually on Apple's mobile product line. I'll only find it a bit of an annoyance if I have to buy all-new applications but eventually, I'll get used to it and be ecstatic over the longer battery life.

 

[LordVic]

I am not really familiar with processor technology, but does this mean Apple has unequivocally leaped Intel in chip architecture? Coffee Lake will be a refined 14nm process, and if Apple is already shipping 10nm processors in the millions, then they are now at least a year ahead right?

That is why those Geekbench scores makes sense now when people say that the iPad Pro scores better than the highest end Macbook Pros, and when an iOS device can pull of AR in high fidelity with no fans, whereas the freaking Macbook has to throttle when playing 4k video.


Also what blows me away, is that the chip in iOS devices have better tech than what is on Macs.

it's not so cut and dry. The process node which is talked about here, is more about density than actual chip design. 10nm means that there is the capability of creating smaller transistors on chip.

this means less energy loss, and higher densities. But does not automatically equate to better or higher performances. The actual design of the circuitry itself has greater impact.

For Apple's CPU's for example, if they do not redesign, but only change process, they may gain some theoretical gains in heat production. allowing them slightly higher clock speeds. But this doesn't equate to improvements in the circuitry itself.

However, moving to smaller node does give more possibilities for smaller, more dense designs for even better chips in the future.

Because of that: just because Apple's chips are on 10nm and Intels on 14nm, doesn't make them comparable as the architecture themselves are fundamentally different and are designed to handle workloads in completely different ways.

 

[zombierunner]

iPad Pro 10.5 is a beast. Looking forward to iOS 11

 

[BoulderAdonis]

Apple's A-chip development prowess over the years is simply astonishing. On many fronts. And has paid huge dividends.

Tip-of-my-hat to Johny Srouji, his engineers, and Apple's leadership that have made their development, and the products using those chips, possible.

Well, credit where credit is due: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Wilson

Sophie Wilson (born Roger Wilson) is who made the development of these chips "possible".

Amazing to see what the Apple team has done with them though.

 

[macduke]

Well, this explains why my iPad Pro 10.5" doesn't get very warm under load. That and the fact that it completes most advanced processing tasks in mere seconds. This thing is a beast and I love it. Using Affinity Photo, I designed my first set of graphics on the iPad last night that will be used in a legit upcoming web project. It felt good! It's basically Photoshop for $20 and easily worth 10x as much. Takes some time to get used to, though. Some processes are different to Photoshop—and not necessarily because they're more complex, but because they're easier. They rethought some of the things people do in Photoshop, and streamlined it and make it have less steps. So that takes time to get used to, but is fantastic and I tell everyone I know they have to buy it. They're also working on Affinity Designer so I'm really looking forward to trying that out. I'm thinking about buying their Mac apps and ditching Creative Cloud—well, at least the full version and would keep the version that has Lightroom. Affinity Photo can edit RAW but I don't think it's quite as good yet and doesn't have any sort of library/organization features.

 

[44267547]

That's crazy that the A10X is actually smaller than the A10.

What's even crazier, is how thin these iPads are and packed with the latest technology. Who would of thought 20 years ago we would be carrying a device that weighsjust over a pound and is less than an inch thick that can accomplish so Many things on different levels. To me, that's mind boggling and Apple is the leader Behind this technology.