[New leak] The new iPhone will have an A6 processor

[CallOfDuty]

This isn't another thread to blankly discuss the new iPhone having the A5X or A6 or even the same A5.
As the title states, the new iPhone is said to have an A6 processor.

My friend forwarded this link of an alleged photo of the A6 chip in the leaked logic board photos with the EMI plating removed. This, is different from the previous leaked photos of the logic board as it clearly shows an A6 wording on the chip. The previous photos had no clear indication or labels that states what processor it has.

I wanted to post the link at first, but I decided that I might as well extract the photo from the site.

Credits to the original person who posted this.

And this is the previous alleged leaked logic board which has its shielding removed but has no clear indication of it being an A5, A6 or A5X.

The A6 Chip is clearly on the leaked logic board, as you can see everything else on both photos of the logic board is the same.

In the previous leaked photo, I suppose there is wording on the processor. If you look at that area where the processor is supposed to be at, there is a very faint white hue that seem more likely to be an Apple logo. It seems that this picture was taken with an extremely lousy camera.

And I don't think this is photoshopped.

 

[Nathan20]

here's the link from the original posting:
https://twitter.com/SonnyDickson/statuses/241136070325071873

I think that the proposition of an A6 being in the new iPhone is quite likely but not sure how reliable this picture is since the picture hasn't caught on with the rumour websites.

 

[tann]

I think that this is not going to happen. But hey, that's me.

 

[iapplelove]

i think its very possible

 

[CallOfDuty]

I think that this is not going to happen. But hey, that's me.

I'm not going to argue or flame you for thinking this way, but I would like I know why? To me it seems very probable already from the photos !

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here's the link from the original posting:
https://twitter.com/SonnyDickson/statuses/241136070325071873

I think that the proposition of an A6 being in the new iPhone is quite likely but not sure how reliable this picture is since the picture hasn't caught on with the rumour websites.

Dude. Its morning! I suppose those editors are most likely sleeping now ! Wait till everyone of them wakes up and start posting....

 

[Want300]

Time will tell... I hope it is true.

 

[AustinIllini]

I, for one, hope the the iPhone goes back to being the flagship updated device in the Apple lineup. For example, iPad has an A5X, so everyone assumes the iPhone will have the same. I like the idea that the iPhone will have an A6 which is better than the iPad.

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

9to5mac.com have picked up the story now, with a couple of extra little tidbits.

 

[Want300]

I, for one, hope the the iPhone goes back to being the flagship updated device in the Apple lineup. For example, iPad has an A5X, so everyone assumes the iPhone will have the same. I like the idea that the iPhone will have an A6 which is better than the iPad.

I agree, that would be nice. I would think people are going to update their phone more often then their tablet

 

[tann]

I'm not going to argue or flame you for thinking this way, but I would like I know why? To me it seems very probable already from the photos !

Photos can be manipulated. Also are we assuming that the A6 would bring a quad core cpu?

I just don't see them jumping to a quad core cpu this fast (especially since the iPad is living on dual core still). Don't see the A6 (with quad core) coming out until the iPad 4. Also they tried the smaller (32nm) A5s in the new iPad 2 and Apple TV and I believe they were testing them in those products before putting them into the new iPhone in a few weeks!

 

[Chundles]

A5X in an iPhone would be pointless. It's not going to be pushing that many extra pixels and CPU performance is the same as the A5.

Either go with the new version of the A5 and save some power to divert to the LTE antenna or whack in an all-new A6.

 

[AustinIllini]

I agree, that would be nice. I would think people are going to update their phone more often then their tablet

Right. Also, at the rate android is improving, Apple probably shouldn't take so many sidesteps.

 

[Menel]

Photos can be manipulated. Also are we assuming that the A6 would bring a quad core cpu?

I just don't see them jumping to a quad core cpu this fast (especially since the iPad is living on dual core still). Don't see the A6 (with quad core) coming out until the iPad 4. Also they tried the smaller (32nm) A5s in the new iPad 2 and Apple TV and I believe they were testing them in those products before putting them into the new iPhone in a few weeks!

Some people are assuming A6 will be quad, but many also believe thats erroneous and impractical and unnecessary.

A6 could well be a dual CortexA15, still be a next gen architecture, run circles around quad CortexA9s, and use far less power, and cost far less to manufacture. Far more likely.

 

[Want300]

Photos can be manipulated. Also are we assuming that the A6 would bring a quad core cpu?

I just don't see them jumping to a quad core cpu this fast (especially since the iPad is living on dual core still). Don't see the A6 (with quad core) coming out until the iPad 4. Also they tried the smaller (32nm) A5s in the new iPad 2 and Apple TV and I believe they were testing them in those products before putting them into the new iPhone in a few weeks!

If this is case... I wonder how the keynote is going to go in terms of audience reaction... Every iPhone update, I have been able to feel and notice the difference in speed and smoothness... especially when going back and using the old one after having the new one. Would the smaller A5 give a dramatic increase like the previous phones have gotten?

 

[Menel]

I, for one, hope the the iPhone goes back to being the flagship updated device in the Apple lineup. For example, iPad has an A5X, so everyone assumes the iPhone will have the same. I like the idea that the iPhone will have an A6 which is better than the iPad.

Go back?? Whaa?

iPad, 1st gen, got A4 before iPhone 4.
iPad 2, got A5 before iPhone 4S.
iPad 2,4, got A5(32nm) before ...?
iPad, 3rd gen, got A5X before ...?

A6...?

Will be interesting to see what plays out in a couple weeks.

 

[tann]

Some people are assuming A6 will be quad, but many also believe thats erroneous and impractical and unnecessary.

A6 could well be a dual CortexA15, still be a next gen architecture, run circles around quad CortexA9s, and use far less power, and cost far less to manufacture. Far more likely.

New architecture would be excellent! Now that would be amazing. I think that is more likely than a quad core, but I still think my comment below could also be equally (if not more so) feasible.

If this is case... I wonder how the keynote is going to go in terms of audience reaction... Every iPhone update, I have been able to feel and notice the difference in speed and smoothness... especially when going back and using the old one after having the new one. Would the smaller A5 give a dramatic increase like the previous phones have gotten?

Well if they shrunk it to the 32nm process then it would already save a considerable amount of power (see new iPad 2) and they could then increase the clock speed to match the iPad 2's 1GHz.

 

[Menel]

If this is case... I wonder how the keynote is going to go in terms of audience reaction... Every iPhone update, I have been able to feel and notice the difference in speed and smoothness... especially when going back and using the old one after having the new one. Would the smaller A5 give a dramatic increase like the previous phones have gotten?

3GS -> 4
CortexA8@600mhz w 256RAM -> CortexA8@800mhz w 512RAM

4S -> iPhone 6
Dual CortexA9@800mhz w 512RAM -> Dual CortexA9@1000or1200mhz w 1024RAM

There's still a noticeable speed difference there *IF* Apple goes that way.

 

[CallOfDuty]

Photos can be manipulated. Also are we assuming that the A6 would bring a quad core cpu?

I just don't see them jumping to a quad core cpu this fast (especially since the iPad is living on dual core still). Don't see the A6 (with quad core) coming out until the iPad 4. Also they tried the smaller (32nm) A5s in the new iPad 2 and Apple TV and I believe they were testing them in those products before putting them into the new iPhone in a few weeks!

The new iPad does have a dual core CPU, but it has a quad core GPU. Upping the GPU brings about more performance boosts than simply doubling the CPU.
I think we can't assume that just because they tested an 32nm process in the iPad 2 makes it more likely that the new iPhone has the same A5 chip.

I don't see any advantages with staying with the same chip other than battery life. If you mention LTE, they could have developed LTE on a new chip instead of reusing an old one. The A5X is considered a new chip as it has two more graphic cores, and it has LTE.

LG is slated to launch a new phone, the Optimus G, with quad core processor (Snapdragon S4 Pro) + 4G LTE connectivity by this year. So I'll bet that the new iPhone will be the first, ahead of it.

 

[Want300]

Well if they shrunk it to the 32nm process then it would already save a considerable amount of power (see new iPad 2) and they could then increase the clock speed to match the iPad 2's 1GHz.

I didn't know, which is why I asked.

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3GS -> 4
CortexA8@600mhz w 256RAM -> CortexA8@800mhz w 512RAM

4S -> iPhone 6
Dual CortexA9@800mhz w 512RAM -> Dual CortexA9@1000or1200mhz w 1024RAM

There's still a noticeable speed difference there *IF* Apple goes that way.

Makes sense. I forgot the 4S only has 512 RAM

 

[CallOfDuty]

3GS -> 4
CortexA8@600mhz w 256RAM -> CortexA8@800mhz w 512RAM

4S -> iPhone 6
Dual CortexA9@800mhz w 512RAM -> Dual CortexA9@1000or1200mhz w 1024RAM

There's still a noticeable speed difference there *IF* Apple goes that way.

Noticeable, yet minimal. Heck, my iPhone 4 had a choppy graphics performance than the 3GS! The 3GS seems more fluid than my iPhone 4 in iOS 5. And I'm talking in terms of fluidity of the UI. Of course, the iPhone 4 does things faster, but I would like to see some optimizations to the choppy UI in the iPhone 4.

 

[SR71]

Hopefully the A6 is a Cortex A15 based Dual-Core SoC. That'd be killer. Even though A15 chips aren't supposed to be available till the fall/early 2013, Apple could've pulled some strings, I mean they do have over $100 BILLION laying around. Money talks.

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Some people are assuming A6 will be quad, but many also believe thats erroneous and impractical and unnecessary.

A6 could well be a dual CortexA15, still be a next gen architecture, run circles around quad CortexA9s, and use far less power, and cost far less to manufacture. Far more likely.

This. Screw quad-core Cortex A9's. Dual-Core Cortex A15 would blow them out of the water while being significantly more energy efficient.

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Noticeable, yet minimal. Heck, my iPhone 4 had a choppy graphics performance than the 3GS! The 3GS seems more fluid than my iPhone 4 in iOS 5. And I'm talking in terms of fluidity of the UI. Of course, the iPhone 4 does things faster, but I would like to see some optimizations to the choppy UI in the iPhone 4.

Agreed. The iPhone 4 on iOS 5 is laggy, hell, mine constantly freezes mid-animation. Can't wait to upgrade to the next iPhone.

 

[atari1356]

Noticeable, yet minimal. Heck, my iPhone 4 had a choppy graphics performance than the 3GS! The 3GS seems more fluid than my iPhone 4 in iOS 5. And I'm talking in terms of fluidity of the UI. Of course, the iPhone 4 does things faster, but I would like to see some optimizations to the choppy UI in the iPhone 4.

I believe the iPhone 4 uses the same graphics processor as in the 3GS... but with the retina display has twice as many pixels to deal with. Because of that, some apps that rely heavily on the GPU can run faster on the 3GS than on an iPhone 4. The "choppy UI" you mention is probably related to that as well.

The iPhone 4S uses a much faster GPU though, and presumably the iPhone 5 will use the same or better.

 

[SR71]

I believe the iPhone 4 uses the same graphics processor as in the 3GS... but with the retina display has twice as many pixels to deal with. Because of that, some apps that rely heavily on the GPU can run faster on the 3GS than on an iPhone 4. The "choppy UI" you mention is probably related to that as well.

The iPhone 4S uses a much faster GPU though, and presumably the iPhone 5 will use the same or better.

That explains it a lot. Thanks!

 

[GekkePrutser]

I believe the iPhone 4 uses the same graphics processor as in the 3GS... but with the retina display has twice as many pixels to deal with.

Make that 4x as many pixels

 

[CallOfDuty]

I believe the iPhone 4 uses the same graphics processor as in the 3GS... but with the retina display has twice as many pixels to deal with. Because of that, some apps that rely heavily on the GPU can run faster on the 3GS than on an iPhone 4. The "choppy UI" you mention is probably related to that as well.

The iPhone 4S uses a much faster GPU though, and presumably the iPhone 5 will use the same or better.

What puzzles me is that the iPod touch 4th generation, running the same A4 processor, is much more fluid! It has twice less RAM (256MB of Ram) than the iPhone 4's 512MB of ram! It has the same retina display.