Samsung Starts Manufacturing Apple's A9 Chip for 2015 iOS Devices

[teknikal90]

Why so surprised? I'm genuinely curious.

in the past the ipad chips have maintained similar CPU processing power, with beefed up graphics.

this year, the A8x is almost a generation jump away from the A8 in the CPU side of things.

In fact, A8 --> A8X jump is significantly more massive than A7 -> A8.

 

[Thomas2006]

So soon?!

Yes! Next year's WWDC2015 will be the 10th anniversary of the announcement to switch to using Intel processors. Tim Cook will bring it up so he can talk about how OS X will be (has been) running on ARM (A7 and newer) processors. He will then debut the return of the MacBook powered by an A9 processor running OS X. He will go on the say iOS will also be installed on the MacBook similar to Rosetta so iOS apps will be able to run on the MacBook. His "just one more thing" will be to announce that iOS 9 is also running on Intel processors, and any Mac that can support and is running OS X 10.11 will be able to install and run iOS 9.

With Microsoft putting so much effort into creating iOS apps, people will be able to run those on their Mac without needing to install Windows. All the games written for iOS will be playable on a Mac. The Apple TV currently uses the A5 processor so in one fell swoop, Apple can update it with the A9 processor and turn it into a gaming console with 4K video support.

 

[Traverse]

Why so surprised? I'm genuinely curious.

I was expecting it to just use the A8 just as the Air used the A7. The A8 is more than powerful for current software. It surprised me that Apple put so much power into the A8X given the iPads current state, it makes me wonder what's next.

----------

surprise you in what way?

I wasn't expecting such a leap from the A7 or even A8.

 

[businezguy]

The A-series of chips don't get enough recognition IMO.

They are incredible to say the least. Bespoke, super fast, tiny and get consistently better with each iteration, rivalling and often out-performing even the most experienced players in the mobile processor market seemingly with ease.

They are the core of Apple's most successful product lines and deservedly so, too. Congratulations to Apple and all those involved for such a truly innovative technological marvel.

I agree with you 100 percent. The fact is, Apple has the leading chip design for mobile devices, and everybody else is playing catch up.

The triple core set up for the new iPad is just awesome. They just continued to extend their lead.

At this point, Apple needs to do some major revamps on IOS 9. They need to utilize the power of these chips so provide an even more desirable product. Ironically, I always considered Apple's software development to be their strong point. In the desktop space, I still think they offer the best solution by far. In the mobile space, I think they offer the best solution, but not by much. Here's hoping for more software innovation!

 

[yg17]

So will all the people here who say they refuse to buy Samsung products also refuse to purchase the iPhone 6S?

Didn't think so.

 

[Dekema2]

Why does this article report the chips were to be made in NY?: https://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/01/samsung-globalfoundries-apple-a9-2015/

 

[chleuasme]

"A9" name is already taken by ARM Cortex processor, which could also be found in mobile phones.
That's sad case of confusion, because it would take more time to google the A9-related things

Well, Cortex-A5, Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A8 also exist. Out of context, that indeed forces to prefix them (Apple- or Cortex-).

 

[Kendo]

in the past the ipad chips have maintained similar CPU processing power, with beefed up graphics.

this year, the A8x is almost a generation jump away from the A8 in the CPU side of things.

In fact, A8 --> A8X jump is significantly more massive than A7 -> A8.

Not sure what you mean. The A5 to A6 and A6 to A7 doubled both CPU and GPU performance. The A7 to A8X did 2.5x in GPU performance but only 40% more in CPU. This is the first generation where the CPU and GPU weren't doubled from the A7 to A8. It was more focused on power consumption. Because the A8 only gave 25% more CPU and 40% more GPU, I think that is the reason why they needed to do an A8X to beef up that 40% graphics.

 

[macduke]

Starting production on the A9 so soon after the A8's introduction suggests that we might actually see the mythical iPad Pro/Air Plus sometime between April and June as recently rumored.

I personally think such a device could be shown at WWDC alongside some pro apps developed for iOS.

The A8X is a great achievement, and I can't wait to see what the A9 and theoretical A9X can do.

Came here to write this. I've mentioned this several times on these forums. I think that Apple will use the iPad Pro as a testing stage of sorts for components that will be used in iOS devices later in the year. They can charge people more money for a faster Pro machine, and then sell the same or similar downclocked components with less CPU or graphics cores in the autumn product lineup. I've also mentioned a while back that the rumored 12" MacBook might also be the 12" iPad Pro with a keyboard dock as there have been rumors of an ARM-powered MacBook floating around for at least a year or two. But you never know since Apple tests so many things in their lab.

Even if we're talking about a WWDC launch—December seems pretty early to start ramping up production for a chip that would only go into an iPad Pro or MacBook Air. Presumably an iPad Pro has an even more limited potential market than an iPad Air, and the MacBook Airs aren't huge sellers either when compared to iOS devices. This makes me think that either Apple is going to put the iPad Pro / MacBook Pro retina on sale earlier this Spring that originally thought (perhaps announced at the Apple Watch event around February), and/or they've lost their damn minds and are going back to a summer release schedule for the iPhone along with the iPads. As someone who is wanting to move down to a 4.7" iPhone from the 5.5" Plus model and has been frustrated with some of the crashing problems when compared to my immaculate iPad Air 2, I fully support Apple releasing an upgraded 4.7" 6S with 2GB of RAM and that rumored fancy new camera module this summer. Hopefully they also bump up the base model to 32GB so that people can upgrade future versions of iOS without running out of space lol.

 

[iPadCary]

Ahh, so the A9 in 2015 ....
Followed by the A10/X in 2016 ....
Also iOS 10/X in 2016 ....
Also Apple's new HQ in 2016 ....

A clear picture is beginning to emerge ....
One OS for desktop and mobile devices.

 

[chrmjenkins]

TSMC's 16nm FinFET process won't be ready for next Fall, so they won't be making any new chips, just continuing to supply the A8 and A8X.

 

[bbeagle]

So will all the people here who say they refuse to buy Samsung products also refuse to purchase the iPhone 6S?

Didn't think so.

What a huge logic fail there.

Samsung doesn't DESIGN (i.e. Make) the chip, they only manufacturer it. I guess when you go to McDonalds and the fry cook Sammy makes your fries, do you call them Sammy's fries or McDonald's fries?

We all realize the A9 chip and the components are apple's, because they designed them, therefore 'making' then, regardless of who actually manufacturers them.

If Apple manufactured some sort of a chip for a Samsung phone, it would still be a samsung phone, and the apple chip wouldn't make it any better,

 

[chleuasme]

Ahh, so the A9 in 2015 ....
Followed by the A10/X in 2016 ....
Also iOS 10/X in 2016 ....
Also Apple's new HQ in 2016 ....

A clear picture is beginning to emerge ....
One OS for desktop and mobile devices.

mmmh nope.
You're gonna have to tell us what's the logic you're supposed to base your conclusion on. OS name and new HQ?

Now, yes, iOS on devices/form-factors we only see today running OS X is possible in a close future, we can imagine for example ARM-based Apple laptops running only iOS one day and allowing softwares to offer usages today only accessible on a desktop Mac. But OS X is not close to disappear.

 

[dampfnudel]

So soon?!

Maybe Apple plans to release the next iPhone sooner than September 2015 so A9 production has to start now.

 

[knightryda12]

What a huge logic fail there.

Samsung doesn't DESIGN (i.e. Make) the chip, they only manufacturer it. I guess when you go to McDonalds and the fry cook Sammy makes your fries, do you call them Sammy's fries or McDonald's fries?
,

Your analogy is flawed as well... a better one would be if mcdonalds asked tyson for their chicken nuggets made at a tyson facility to sell at their restaurants. Mcdonalds demands the quality and may even ask for real chicken. Tyson processes the chicken and makes the nugget which mcdonalds packages and sells. Its still a tyson nugget with tyson quality but with a mcdonalds label.

Apple does not have the ability to produce these processors on a mass level. You have to invest billions of dollars into the manufacturing process.. esp at ever shrinking sizes... its a business partnership.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

What happened with GlobalFoundries.. http://www.cultofmac.com/305771/chips-america-apple-build-a9-processor-u-s/

 

[BoulderAdonis]

Your analogy is flawed as well... a better one would be if mcdonalds asked tyson for their chicken nuggets made at a tyson facility to sell at their restaurants. Mcdonalds demands the quality and may even ask for real chicken. Tyson processes the chicken and makes the nugget which mcdonalds packages and sells. Its still a tyson nugget with tyson quality but with a mcdonalds label.

Apple does not have the ability to produce these processors on a mass level. You have to invest billions of dollars into the manufacturing process.. esp at ever shrinking sizes... its a business partnership.

Except McDonald's would have to give Tyson their super, enhanced, GMO chicken DNA to clone their chickens from - because Tyson only knows how to stamp out rubber turkeys.

 

[teknikal90]

Not sure what you mean. The A5 to A6 and A6 to A7 doubled both CPU and GPU performance. The A7 to A8X did 2.5x in GPU performance but only 40% more in CPU. This is the first generation where the CPU and GPU weren't doubled from the A7 to A8. It was more focused on power consumption. Because the A8 only gave 25% more CPU and 40% more GPU, I think that is the reason why they needed to do an A8X to beef up that 40% graphics.

A8x CPU performance is almost double that of the A8

edit: sorry i meant to say in the past ipad chips maintained largely the same CPU performance as the iphone counterpart.

 

[name99]

"A9" name is already taken by ARM Cortex processor, which could also be found in mobile phones.
That's sad case of confusion, because it would take more time to google the A9-related things

That was just as true for the previous chips.
There was a Cortex A5, a Cortex A7 (VERY COMMON), a Cortex A8. All colliding with Apple names.

It's not clear to me whether or not there will be an A9X.

Pro: Everything points to the introduction of an iPad Pro, and the range from the "low-end" iPhone 6S to the iPad Pro is fairly large, especially in pixels that need to be manipulated.

Con: The iPhone 6+ pretty clearly could have used more GPU than it has. The iPhone 6S could also be fitted with a 3x screen (like the 6+) meaning it also needs more GPU. At which point, does the segmentation make sense? Just give everyone 3 CPUs and a big GPU, and segment by binning. Maybe the iPad Pro (likely to sell in smaller numbers, with bigger battery) just gets 300MHz over base frequency, iPad gets 100MHz over base frequency, and logistics is easier with only one chip?

The good thing is that Apple doesn't (IMHO) have to worry about artificial segmentation --- they don't care if you choose an iPad rather than an iPhone or vice versa (and would prefer you buy both) which suggests their primary concern will be what can be manufactured, not how to cripple one chips vs the other. My guess is that the A8/A8X split (which, remember, they had to decide upon maybe eighteen months before the iPhone6 shipped) was driven by concerns about how many CPUs they could physically fabricate, given (estimated, not certain) chip yields and how rapidly the fab can run. If those same estimates (how many will we sell? what do we expect yields to be? how many wafers can Samsung+TSMC process per month?) are different this time round, it may be quite feasible to accept the larger area of what would be the "A9X" and abandon the A9 as an unnecessary backup plan.
It's even possible that, right now, Apple haven't even made a decision yet --- they're waiting to see the Samsung yields and, perhaps, what TSMC can add to the volumes.

 

[perezr10]

This is good news for both Apple and Samsung.

Here's why...

http://www.perezonomics.com/1/post/2014/11/why-did-apple-choose-samsung-as-their-main-chip-supplier.html

 

[TallManNY]

in the past the ipad chips have maintained similar CPU processing power, with beefed up graphics.

this year, the A8x is almost a generation jump away from the A8 in the CPU side of things.

In fact, A8 --> A8X jump is significantly more massive than A7 -> A8.

So what you are saying is that I'm a fool for not having gotten an iPad Air2 to replace my iPad Mini Retina from last year.

I have an iPhone 6 and I thought I would be doubling up too much on current technology and therefor wasteful. But I use my iPad every day and could get use out of the larger screen of the Air. If I got performance advantages as well it might be a very nice upgrade. Though this is an $800 or so dollar purchase (I'd normally get the LTE enabled since it is a portable device, though maybe I'd consider just wifi for the bigger Air).

 

[bommai]

"A9" name is already taken by ARM Cortex processor, which could also be found in mobile phones.
That's sad case of confusion, because it would take more time to google the A9-related things

Arm cortex A8 came before Cortex A9. These numbers don't have much to do with apples naming scheme.

 

[teknikal90]

So what you are saying is that I'm a fool for not having gotten an iPad Air2 to replace my iPad Mini Retina from last year.

I have an iPhone 6 and I thought I would be doubling up too much on current technology and therefor wasteful. But I use my iPad every day and could get use out of the larger screen of the Air. If I got performance advantages as well it might be a very nice upgrade. Though this is an $800 or so dollar purchase (I'd normally get the LTE enabled since it is a portable device, though maybe I'd consider just wifi for the bigger Air).

no no not at all
it's one thing to say that the ipad air cpu is 2x more powerful...heck it can be 5x
but if your utility of the device doesnt get increased, its still a waste of money. do you need the extra power? i find for most people, the answer is no. especially for people with only a 1 year old ipad.

for example, my ipad 4 is less than 50% less powerful than my iphone.
i have no intention of replacing it soon because it does everything i need on it well.

 

[chrmjenkins]

What happened with GlobalFoundries.. http://www.cultofmac.com/305771/chips-america-apple-build-a9-processor-u-s/

GlobalFoundries and Samsung have an agreement where their processes are compatible. So this deal shouldn't be taken as a sign that GloFo won't be involved.

 

[TheHateMachine]

Yes! Next year's WWDC2015 will be the 10th anniversary of the announcement to switch to using Intel processors. Tim Cook will bring it up so he can talk about how OS X will be (has been) running on ARM (A7 and newer) processors. He will then debut the return of the MacBook powered by an A9 processor running OS X. He will go on the say iOS will also be installed on the MacBook similar to Rosetta so iOS apps will be able to run on the MacBook. His "just one more thing" will be to announce that iOS 9 is also running on Intel processors, and any Mac that can support and is running OS X 10.11 will be able to install and run iOS 9.

With Microsoft putting so much effort into creating iOS apps, people will be able to run those on their Mac without needing to install Windows. All the games written for iOS will be playable on a Mac. The Apple TV currently uses the A5 processor so in one fell swoop, Apple can update it with the A9 processor and turn it into a gaming console with 4K video support.

All of my "wat"...