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SoC in the next iPhone

C

chrismarle

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 18, 2011
372
3
Canada
Hi guys,

Since everyone knows that the next iPhone will be announced in less than a month,there are things that we can almost say that we know the design of the device.

There are still a lot of uncertain stuff. Like the system-on-chip (SoC) that I want to discuss today.

Apple has a trend to introduce new gen SoC with every iPad announcement. If this trend continue, we will see the new iPhone using the A5X. But when Schiller introduced the A5X, he specified that the chip is ''Designed for Retina Display''. This makes me doubt about the fact that the new iPhone would carry the A5X. I think that the A5X will only be used in the new iPad because it is a temporary transition between the A5 and the A6.

I can see the new iPhone using a new A6 chip. I have a few ideas of what it could be.

The first thing I think is a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A9 CPU with probably a PowerVR SGX543MP4.

Second idea I have is a dualcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with the same PowerVR SGX543MP4.

My third idea but really unlikely would be a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with, again, the PowerVR SGX543MP4.

What I would hope is that the PowerVR Serie 6 GPU would be available and be in the next gen iOS devices but I don't think that they will be available on time.
 
I bet it's not going to be quad core. They'll hopefully go with 28nm like Snapdragon's "Krait," but it might 32nm, like the Samsung Exynos 4420 (looking at the new old iPad 2's A5).

The GPU will hopefully be from Imagination's PowerVR "Rogue" series, but I don't think it's been announced yet. There's some serious graphics muscle coming from the Android side of things - like the Mali 400MP4 and Adreno 350 are looking like they'll rob the iPhone of the one hardware advantage it has enjoyed - GPU power.

By the way, some of your specs are like that of the PS Vita, which has a giant battery and a giant enclosure space. Doubt the iPhone will be able to swallow that.
 
I hope its uses something like the dual core S4 thats used in the HTC One X, battery life has been very good, something not typical on android or LTE. And its been shown to have plenty of power.
 
gjac0m said:
Hi guys,

Since everyone knows that the next iPhone will be announced in less than a month,there are things that we can almost say that we know the design of the device.

There are still a lot of uncertain stuff. Like the system-on-chip (SoC) that I want to discuss today.

Apple has a trend to introduce new gen SoC with every iPad announcement. If this trend continue, we will see the new iPhone using the A5X. But when Schiller introduced the A5X, he specified that the chip is ''Designed for Retina Display''. This makes me doubt about the fact that the new iPhone would carry the A5X. I think that the A5X will only be used in the new iPad because it is a temporary transition between the A5 and the A6.

I can see the new iPhone using a new A6 chip. I have a few ideas of what it could be.

The first thing I think is a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A9 CPU with probably a PowerVR SGX543MP4.

Second idea I have is a dualcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with the same PowerVR SGX543MP4.

My third idea but really unlikely would be a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with, again, the PowerVR SGX543MP4.

What I would hope is that the PowerVR Serie 6 GPU would be available and be in the next gen iOS devices but I don't think that they will be available on time.
Click to expand...

I have written about this perhaps 2 or 1 day ago.
Firstly, as a iPhone 4 owner looking forward to an upgrade, I won't like a die shrinked 32nm A5 even if it promises a better battery life and more performance with a HIGHER clock.
The performance of the new iPhone must at least match the S4 krait chips, if not best matching the Galaxy S3 International Version's quad core processor.

You can't tell consumers your next iPhone will be the same chip as the one you had before that especially 4S owners. If I were apple, I would scheme, trick and lie just to get as many customers on board as possible, and one of those people would be previous generation owners. How am I supposed to convince 4S owners to upgrade if I were to tell them it still has the same A5 chip?

Face it , no matter how much you praise the A5 chip for being a too powerful chip in the 4S already, peope just want better ones. The Galaxy S3 could have the same old dingy Hummingbird if people didn't demand for more. Same goes to the new iPhone. I want at least a complete processor upgrade, or at least a huge graphics boost to match the A5X. A die shrinked Overclocked A5 is outrageous from every standpoint, not to mention the at least the S4 will still be better than it.
 
CallOfDuty said:
I have written about this perhaps 2 or 1 day ago.
Firstly, as a iPhone 4 owner looking forward to an upgrade, I won't like a die shrinked 32nm A5 even if it promises a better battery life and more performance with a HIGHER clock.
The performance of the new iPhone must at least match the S4 krait chips, if not best matching the Galaxy S3 International Version's quad core processor.

You can't tell consumers your next iPhone will be the same chip as the one you had before that especially 4S owners. If I were apple, I would scheme, trick and lie just to get as many customers on board as possible, and one of those people would be previous generation owners. How am I supposed to convince 4S owners to upgrade if I were to tell them it still has the same A5 chip?

Face it , no matter how much you praise the A5 chip for being a too powerful chip in the 4S already, peope just want better ones. The Galaxy S3 could have the same old dingy Hummingbird if people didn't demand for more. Same goes to the new iPhone. I want at least a complete processor upgrade, or at least a huge graphics boost to match the A5X. A die shrinked Overclocked A5 is outrageous from every standpoint, not to mention the at least the S4 will still be better than it.
Click to expand...

agreed. Even if that juice is not needed, I do not want the same chip in my current phone. I think everyone would pretty much agree on that b.c then you are talking about visually a very similar phone and internally the same thing. I don't think apple would do that....
 
CallOfDuty said:
I have written about this perhaps 2 or 1 day ago.
Firstly, as a iPhone 4 owner looking forward to an upgrade, I won't like a die shrinked 32nm A5 even if it promises a better battery life and more performance with a HIGHER clock.
The performance of the new iPhone must at least match the S4 krait chips, if not best matching the Galaxy S3 International Version's quad core processor.

You can't tell consumers your next iPhone will be the same chip as the one you had before that especially 4S owners. If I were apple, I would scheme, trick and lie just to get as many customers on board as possible, and one of those people would be previous generation owners. How am I supposed to convince 4S owners to upgrade if I were to tell them it still has the same A5 chip?

Face it , no matter how much you praise the A5 chip for being a too powerful chip in the 4S already, peope just want better ones. The Galaxy S3 could have the same old dingy Hummingbird if people didn't demand for more. Same goes to the new iPhone. I want at least a complete processor upgrade, or at least a huge graphics boost to match the A5X. A die shrinked Overclocked A5 is outrageous from every standpoint, not to mention the at least the S4 will still be better than it.
Click to expand...

I would have to completely disagree. The MAJORITY of people (non-apple forum addicts), won't care what it says. The majority of Apple's profits are generated through poignant advertisements, beautiful billboards, friendly, smiling staff greeting them at the store entrance, and the absolute simplicity of butter-smooth iOS. I have no idea how a quad core chip will make it run any better over the current 4s.

Now personally, I want it to be an 800mhz-1ghz quad core, but I honestly think we are looking at a bumped dual core A5 at 1.4-1.6. They already have the architecture in place, the tooling, assembly, order contracts for supplies etc etc.

But "people just want betters ones" than A5 I don't think rings true among all those baristas waiting in line ;)
 
Have we seen the chip remain relatively the same in consecutive iPhone models? If we haven't, it seems unlikely to me that they will do it now.

One of Apples big focus points will surely be on ensuring that the next iPhone will have the same or better battery life than the iPhone 4S while using LTE. That was a big thing for the new iPad.

If they are putting in LTE, they will use whatever processor that is ready and will benefit the battery the most IMO
 
brock2621 said:
I would have to completely disagree. The MAJORITY of people (non-apple forum addicts), won't care what it says. The majority of Apple's profits are generated through poignant advertisements, beautiful billboards, friendly, smiling staff greeting them at the store entrance, and the absolute simplicity of butter-smooth iOS. I have no idea how a quad core chip will make it run any better over the current 4s.

Now personally, I want it to be an 800mhz-1ghz quad core, but I honestly think we are looking at a bumped dual core A5 at 1.4-1.6. They already have the architecture in place, the tooling, assembly, order contracts for supplies etc etc.

But "people just want betters ones" than A5 I don't think rings true among all those baristas waiting in line ;)
Click to expand...

I'm talking from a very technical standpoint. No others were involved. Of course, as an owner of some Apple products (iPhone 4, iPod touch 4th Gen, Macbook Pro, iPad 2), I definitely do appreciate Apple's well known customer support and service.
But I can declare myself as not being an Apple fanatic. Why? I don't buy all those nice goody ads Apple airs over the radio or tv. I judge for myself. The macbook and the iPod were certainly great purchases, my iPhone 4 was a little disappointing but still satisfying. Which is to say, if Apple tried to convince me that the same A5 chip is faster, and much better, I don't buy it.

I know perfectly well that a bumped up A5 will never compete with a Krait processor with a newer architecture and internals. An S4 chip is actually able to compete with Samsung's Exynos quad core chips.

In fact, to be honest (please don't flame me!), I'm actually turning my head to the Galaxy S3 now. But with a rather stable Apple ecosystem I have now, having an iPhone is much seamless than going for some android phone that does not play well with other devices, sad to speak.
 
gjac0m said:
Hi guys,

Since everyone knows that the next iPhone will be announced in less than a month,there are things that we can almost say that we know the design of the device.

There are still a lot of uncertain stuff. Like the system-on-chip (SoC) that I want to discuss today.

Apple has a trend to introduce new gen SoC with every iPad announcement. If this trend continue, we will see the new iPhone using the A5X. But when Schiller introduced the A5X, he specified that the chip is ''Designed for Retina Display''. This makes me doubt about the fact that the new iPhone would carry the A5X. I think that the A5X will only be used in the new iPad because it is a temporary transition between the A5 and the A6.

I can see the new iPhone using a new A6 chip. I have a few ideas of what it could be.

The first thing I think is a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A9 CPU with probably a PowerVR SGX543MP4.

Second idea I have is a dualcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with the same PowerVR SGX543MP4.

My third idea but really unlikely would be a quadcore 28/32nm Cortex A15 CPU with, again, the PowerVR SGX543MP4.

What I would hope is that the PowerVR Serie 6 GPU would be available and be in the next gen iOS devices but I don't think that they will be available on time.
Click to expand...


I expect a 32nm A5X @ ~800mhz. Dual core graphics that are faster than 4S's and slower than iPad's.
 
Last edited:
probably a 32nm A6 quad core Samsung has it and it's compatible with the next generation qualcomm chips that are also 28nm and a ton more efficient.
 
I think we may get A5X in this phone and the A6 will be reserved for the "S" treatment next year.

Although I want the fastest, biggest, baddest NOW. (and no I don't mean an android phone, but thanks) :D
 
ray6712 said:
probably a 32nm A6 quad core Samsung has it and it's compatible with the next generation qualcomm chips that are also 28nm and a ton more efficient.
Click to expand...

Is this fact? I'm curious as I haven't done much research into Samsung's current chip offerings. Do they have an architecture that is quad and LTE compatible?
 
brock2621 said:
Is this fact? I'm curious as I haven't done much research into Samsung's current chip offerings. Do they have an architecture that is quad and LTE compatible?
Click to expand...

They use their quad core exynos chip for the korean version of the galaxy S3 which is LTE and VoLTE compatible.
 
one thing we have to remember is they build the chips but apple designs them. Yes they use a model of their architecture but the end design is apples and we know the have a quad core ready that's compatible with LTE and next year well get the A15 cortex variant.
 
And quad core processors on a shrunken die usually sip power compared to there dual and single core variants of larger die size which is why I think they will go quad core or 32nm dual core A5 with the new graphics chip
 
brock2621 said:
I would have to completely disagree. The MAJORITY of people (non-apple forum addicts), won't care what it says. The majority of Apple's profits are generated through poignant advertisements, beautiful billboards, friendly, smiling staff greeting them at the store entrance, and the absolute simplicity of butter-smooth iOS. I have no idea how a quad core chip will make it run any better over the current 4s.

Now personally, I want it to be an 800mhz-1ghz quad core, but I honestly think we are looking at a bumped dual core A5 at 1.4-1.6. They already have the architecture in place, the tooling, assembly, order contracts for supplies etc etc.

But "people just want betters ones" than A5 I don't think rings true among all those baristas waiting in line ;)
Click to expand...

Apple needs something to plug some "revolutionary 12398 core Magic processor" on product details to get non-techies to buy it. Otherwise, they will have issues convincing people to drop $200 - $700 on something that has few millimeters more of display space and different color back.
 
Quad Core
32nm
minor GPU improvements

The iPhone doesn't need to push a bunch of pixels so the A5X GPU is overkill. Their can get away with a minor GPU upgrade and focus software improvements in iOS 6.

Make the move to Quad Core now and show the world what can be done on the efficiency side.
 
PortableLover said:
Does the iPhone really need a quad core chip? Isn't the iPhone 4S still the fastest and smoothest phone on the market(OS Wise)?
Click to expand...

A phone does not even need a quad core chip in the first place. And I mean any phone, including smartphones. They could have just topped it off at a 1Ghz A4 Chip and be done with that. However, as consumers want more and more, you can't continue enhancing your software without optimizing the hardware. So, as software improvements begin to trickle in, the hardware on the other hand must keep up.

I'm not saying that the A5 is a slow chip, but improvements are always welcome. The A5 chip may run iOS 6 VERY smoothly, but does that mean we can just continue using the A5 chip? No. I'll bet an A5X or A6 chip will run iOS 6 even better. (Considering iOS 5 and 6 runs on the 4S like BUTTER, so why not make iOS 6 run on the new iPhone LIKE WATER- even more fluid?:D)

Yes, Apple has indeed did a great job in optimizing the new software for older devices, a very good job. The 4S is still one of the smoothest and fast device considering it runs on iOS. Android on the other hand hasn't been that great until Jelly Bean was released which kickstarts the REAL race between iOS and Android war in terms of fluidity.
But you can't deny, the previous version of Android, I can tell you, does has its fair share of lags.
 
ray6712 said:
And quad core processors on a shrunken die usually sip power compared to there dual and single core variants of larger die size which is why I think they will go quad core or 32nm dual core A5 with the new graphics chip
Click to expand...

Agreed. People don't understand the significance and importance of shrinking the die and the chip and using more precise manufacturing technology. It really changes how much battery the processor sips.
The new improved A5 chip manufactured at 32nm that apple secretly slipped into the iPad 2 sold concurrently with the new iPad earlier this year, is said to give at least 2 more hours of juice as compared to the old A5 chip manufactured at 45nm.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/04/revised-ipad-2-with-32-nm-a5-offers-15-30-greater-battery-life/

So if Apple decides to use the same technology with the A5X, we can expect similar gains of lower power consumption of 15-30% which is a significance. Also, we can expect Apple to always underclock the chip to reduce power consumption.
The A5 chip also has dynamic clocked speeds. When the device does not need too much processing, the chip is automatically clocked lower. This means another significant battery gains.
Furthermore, the A5 compared to the A4 has much better battery management. And this is solely hardware based. Not to mention new software updates will always bring optimizations to battery.

So, I predict an optimistic estimation for the A5X chip on the new iPhone that it will have a reduced power consumption of up to 50 percent compared to the one on the new iPad.
 
CallOfDuty said:
In fact, to be honest (please don't flame me!), I'm actually turning my head to the Galaxy S3 now. But with a rather stable Apple ecosystem I have now, having an iPhone is much seamless than going for some android phone that does not play well with other devices, sad to speak.
Click to expand...

That's a big reason Apple have been so succesful in my opinion, on top of great devices, they have managed to engrain themselves so much into people's lives switching to a competitor is to difficult
 
I'm still holding out hope for an A15 based dual core chip we would see some amazing gains in power management and speed
 
if it has lte it will have no quad core.

I think it will be the same (or similar) as the new ipad 2's shrunken chip.
 
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