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Overview of Apple's A6 Chip Development and Future Plans

OtherJesus said:
Samsung just took a massive samsung in their pants.
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Why? Geekbench on Jelly Bean shows that the chip in their phone is still faster...

Why do you need to compare the iPhone to a Samsung phone anyway? Isn't the iPhone the best on the market? Then who cares?

And Samsung's outright making the chips anyway. So I think they know what its about.

Please, is there something that can be done about these nonsensical comments?
 
swb1192 said:
The eighth iPhone will be called iPhone 6? :confused: Annoying.
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It's called marketing, the number following iPhone means absolutely nothing but to market it and sell more. You'd have to be a half-wit moron to think the iPhone 5 should have been called the iPhone 6 (marketing wise) iPhone 4S > iPhone 6 makes absolutely no sense, it would be idiotic. Anyone who fails to realize why Apple named it iPhone 5 should sit in silence and think about it for hours or days until they get a lightbulb in their head telling them why it is that way.

Then consider the fact that the important people marketing the iPhone are much smarter than you. They know how to market extremely well. Hence why the iPhone 4S sells like no tomorrow even tho it was extremely minor upgrade over the iPhone 4
 
clibinarius said:
Why? Geekbench on Jelly Bean shows that the chip in their phone is still faster...

Why do you need to compare the iPhone to a Samsung phone anyway? Isn't the iPhone the best on the market? Then who cares?

And Samsung's outright making the chips anyway. So I think they know what its about.

Please, is there something that can be done about these nonsensical comments?
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Shouldn't you also be asking that question to Samsung? After all, they released an ad touting features like "Palm Touch Mute Pause" as reasons to buy an S3 over the iPhone 5.

Apple better add features like "Message Screen Tap Speaker Slide Processors" or they're going to be doomed! *sigh*
 
AustinIllini said:
If you accept that the 4 was the 4, the 4S was a mod on the 4, the 5 is the 5, and the 5S is a mod on the 5, this really makes sense.
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I haven't read to the end yet, and someone else might have mentioned it, but this is faulty logic. I say that because you can't start to use your logic halfway through. Well, you can, but that isn't logical.

iPhone
iPhone 3G
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4S
iPhone 5

That is six models and while the 4 may be considered the 4, where is the 2 and 2S or 2GS? Since they called named the 3G/3GS for a feature reason, once they named the 4 it became something that had to be explained.
 
jrswizzle said:
Apple completely designed their own CPU.....but the iPhone 5 isn't innovative :cool:
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Technology on a phone is already on it's peak. That's why the specs are just being upgraded.

What are you expecting? unnecessary things like see-through/transparent, flexible, foldable, projector, 3D, hologram? or maybe some lazersss, teleporter, time machine, pinching-phone-will-turn-into-a-tablet?

Technology like wireless charging will be ideal if it's built on a computer let say iMac or laptops not a separate device that you need to place it on a mat that have also wires (They are just like docks). Recently apple acquired motion controls technology like kinect will be on a TV or a computer not on a phone.
 
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paulrbeers said:
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....
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iOS would just have to run on x86 hardware. It's not like this is such a stretch given that the core is based on OS X which is targeted at x86 hardware. The first Intel SOC won't be in the iPhone, but I hope future generations will prove to be better in power and performance than ARM offerings.
 
The Gold Rush

A friend of mine was arguing thatcompanies that have most growth potential are Apple suppliers; chip makers, glass makers, battery makers, etc...

He made an analogy of the Gold Rush, how people who got mega rich are those who sold tents, food for travelers, and other services around the quest for gold.

I think Apple want to supply their own tents and food for their own gold rush. They have a hand in every pot (software, services, applications, content, hardware, accessories) and now going even to chip design. Well done.
 
makingdots said:
Technology on a phone is already on it's peak. That's why the specs are just being upgraded.

What are you expecting? unnecessary things like see-through/transparent, flexible, foldable, projector, 3D, hologram? or maybe some lazersss, teleporter, time machine, pinching-phone-will-turn-into-a-tablet?

Technology like wireless charging will be ideal if it's built on a computer let say iMac or laptops and needs not a separate device that you need to place it on a mat that have also wires (They are just like docks). Recently apple acquired motion controls technology like kinect will be on a TV or a computer not on a phone.
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I was being sarcastic....I'm one of the biggest proponents of the "iPhone 5 is a big upgrade" train of thought! ;)
 
swb1192 said:
The eighth iPhone will be called iPhone 6? :confused: Annoying.
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OK damnit.

How about this

Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (built on GTA3 platform)
Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (built on GTA3) platform
Grand Theft Auto 4

The iPhone is like that. When they give it a new platform it gets a new number.

Ta da.
 
gto55 said:
Samsung S3 scores 1781 :confused:
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1026099

and 2399
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1039203
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These scores are ridiculous as one can manipulate the processes and fine-tune the device to attain the highest possible score, when you'd never use the device in that manner in reality.

Personally, a processor that runs my phone without hiccup - pushes console quality graphics - and makes everything open lightning quick is all I'm looking for. If Apple can do that with a 1 GHz dual core processor that saves battery life and keeps the phone's profile small that's what I prefer.

----------
akm3 said:
OK damnit.

How about this

Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (built on GTA3 platform)
Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (built on GTA3) platform
Grand Theft Auto 4

The iPhone is like that. When they give it a new platform it gets a new number.

Ta da.
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Lol you seem frustrated (I've always said it would be the iPhone 5 but enjoy the banter back and forth. It's such a silly thing to argue about :p)
 
voyagerd said:
iOS would just have to run on x86 hardware. It's not like this is such a stretch given that the core is based on OS X which is targeted at x86 hardware. The first Intel SOC won't be in the iPhone, but I hope future generations will prove to be better in power and performance than ARM offerings.
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But it's much the opposite... Arm architectures are getting faster/accellerating than x86 are. 5 years ago using arm processors in servers would have been unheard of but today it is happening. I can't see intels mobile division beating Arm. Too many big players have hitched their wagon to Arm. Intel gave up their arm division a long time ago and I bet they wish they hadn't now.
 
one thing i want to see iPhone goes into the summer timeframe

I think this own Chip design is good for that; iPhone 5S in june/july time frame.

This end of September lunch is too close the Holidays; Holiday sales always solid so it is good to move the iPhone refresh to Summer.

Q1 - iPad
Q2 - iPhone - almost end of Q2
Q3 - iPod/iPad mini refreshes
Q4 - sell a ton :)

and sometimes apple refreshes iMac, Mac Mini - only when the web developer remembers to publish :p
 
paulrbeers said:
But it's much the opposite... Arm architectures are getting faster/accellerating than x86 are. 5 years ago using arm processors in servers would have been unheard of but today it is happening. I can't see intels mobile division beating Arm. Too many big players have hitched their wagon to Arm. Intel gave up their arm division a long time ago and I bet they wish they hadn't now.
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Yep. ARM-architecture designs are having an easier time becoming more powerful while keeping lower power consumption than x86-derivative-architecture designs are in reaching lower power consumption without sacrificing too much power. Unless Intel and/or AMD have a real breakthrough, there's going to come a time when the ARM-style CPUs start to encroach upon their bread & butter. It won't be for a number of years yet, but they're already been soundly thrashed in the power-conscious market.
 
If the processor design requires a 2 year cycle, that means the next one will be an A6X and the one after that an A7. But who says they need a 2 year cycle or that they haven't already started the next cycle in parallel with a different group of designers, and we will see an A7 next year.

How about an A6Y for the iPad mini and an A6Z for TV. We haven't a clue, but will soon see. Anyway, I hope some Apple VP will give us a good video on the development saga leading to the A6
 
paulrbeers said:
Just design. Samsung still fabs. PA Semi is a fabless design firm. Apple is trying to move to TSMC for their fabbing.
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subsonix said:
They don't do it in-house, that wouldn't make sense I think. Whoever manufactures it, acts as a printing house more or less.
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Ahh ok, thanks for the info. This is interesting, it would benefit them to make it in-house. Question is, if that's the route they go, can they match Samsung's qty output? they will need to make lots of em for their devices if they keep selling at this rate.

Hitch08 said:
Image
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Hey, I recognize that.... ;)
 
kemal said:
OK. The A15 is widely reported to be a server market design. Meaning it uses too much power to work in a pocket device. So Apple takes the basic idea of the A15 and re-works it to fit their energy constraints. Great.

If a company is not an ARM instruction set licensee like Apple and Qualcomm, they then can't be designing their own A15 class core. Are Samsung, Ti and Nvidia licensed to do the same or will they be stuck?
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Samsung has Exynos. Exynos 5 is supposed to be A15 based.
Nvidia has Wayne (Tegra 4) which is supposed to be A15 based. (Nvidia really needs to switch over to dual channel memory...).
TI has OMAP5, which is supposed to be A15 based.
 
Imagine if the next iPad (iPad4) uses a quad-core A6 chip with a slight increase in clock speed.... geekbench scores could be around 3200-3500, which is about the same as the original Unibody Macbook Pro. :eek:


(this assumes that the 1600 score for the dual-core A6 is legit)
 
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