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Overview of Apple's A6 Chip Development and Future Plans
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No plans for an Intel SOC?
Nope. No real advantage as of this point.
Nah, Samsung's covered that for them quite nicely
We got $amsunged in the right way lol
It takes a long time to go through the whole process of designing a new chip and making sure silicon works. One very small mistake can cost you an enormous recall.
That will only work only as long as consumers allow. Apple has settled into a comfort zone which can be easily disrupted by another player. I don't think Apple should be so cozy.
Apple and Arm
Apple was an original investor of ARM holdings PLC; which was a spinoff of Acorn.
The ARM6 was used in the Newton and before P.A. Semi, Apple was an ARM licensee and investor up to at least 1999. I can't imagine Apple ever giving up the license rights even after they divest.
With that being said, it's not surprising Apple can modify an ARM core or even design a compatible core. They were also a PPC licensee and have extensive patents in the processor architecture space.
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Derivative work. Not completely designed.
Apple was an original investor of ARM holdings PLC; which was a spinoff of Acorn.
The ARM6 was used in the Newton and before P.A. Semi, Apple was an ARM licensee and investor up to at least 1999. I can't imagine Apple ever giving up the license rights even after they divest.
With that being said, it's not surprising Apple can modify an ARM core or even design a compatible core. They were also a PPC licensee and have extensive patents in the processor architecture space.
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Apple completely designed their own CPU.....but the iPhone 5 isn't innovative
Derivative work. Not completely designed.
I would say it has more to do with carrier's contract lengths than anything as consumers are more-or-less stuck tied to that length of time between upgrades.
(Of course there are plenty of people who buy un-subsidized, but many base their hardware upgrade decisions on their contract expiration).
I would like to have some kind of idea about how the A4, A5, A6, A-family compares to Intel's latest laptop processors (i5 & i7). Are they way, way behind - or are they getting close performance-wise? (Battery/power consumption wise I guess they are way ahead)
Does benchmarks like that exist, anyone?
Does benchmarks like that exist, anyone?
The late Steve Jobs said
"We've got thousands of people making chips"
Here
And it's not done yet. Apple has Macroscalar technology coming eventually as well.
I expect future Apple products to further differentiate themselves in ways that off the shel components used by competitors simply cannot match.
"We've got thousands of people making chips"
Here
And it's not done yet. Apple has Macroscalar technology coming eventually as well.
I expect future Apple products to further differentiate themselves in ways that off the shel components used by competitors simply cannot match.
OK, point being an A15-like design before anyone else (those who use arm chipsets). A feat brought about by Apple's ability to design the CPU vs. the competition which "buys it off the shelf".
Samsung is still making the A6 - most of the fine they paid to apple - they will put it back into production cost
until the TSMC or Intel delivers them the A8 or whatever ...
These Samsung comments are becoming childish... Apple did not invent everything in the world.
That's too true. But on the other hand. F Samsung. Although I do love my fridge.
You know the "I'm a Mac" ads never made fun of Windows users. Samsung's ads are solely focused on lampooning Apple fans which is Bush League.
Samsung products are not irreplaceable and I see TSMC eventually grabbing a lot of business. I'm interested in seeing if Apple eventually gets into the Foundry business in an attempt to keep it all under the hood.
As an IC designer, I can tell you these chips take several years to design.
First year or so is architectural planning & design, then another year or so for logic design, then another 6-12 months for physical design, then another 9 months for systems integration & testing, then a few months for mass production.
Apple is already working on CPU designs for 2016. Perhaps 10nm chips.
Old is New Again
All of this talk about Apple engineering their own chips takes me back to another time when Commodore was around and did the same with MOS Technology. Beautiful vertical integration.
::lost in a fog of nostalgia::
All of this talk about Apple engineering their own chips takes me back to another time when Commodore was around and did the same with MOS Technology. Beautiful vertical integration.
::lost in a fog of nostalgia::
No plans for an Intel SOC?
Why would they? The first Intel SOC showing up in phones is just starting to happen, and I still haven't seen anything showing that they are competitive power wise and performance of any ARM. I know, I know, you wanna run a "real OS" on your phone. It'll suck (ala Windows Mobile 1-6), but hey go for it....