I'll bet it's the GPU that's quad-core (like the Sony Vita) and not the CPU. Probably people got easily confused with that.
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The iPad 3's A6 Processor to be Dual-Core?
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You're joking, right? Gruber and Dalrymple have better records and predict/bet less because they don't report every piece of trash rumor that shows up in their inbox. Topolsky will print stuff that clearly isn't true. He's a good guy, and a great writer, but he is not a good rumor source. His track record around Apple should speak for itself in that regard.
Now, can we all just agree that Jonathan Geller at BGR is the worst at reporting Apple rumors and that Gizmodo in general is a cesspool of humanity?
The references were clearly to a quad core CPU. However, we have no guarantee that that development chip is the A6.
Of the rumors that have been reported far in advance that are right, he is often behind them. It is nice to see sure bets close to launch, but it's also fun to see sensible rumors. He was talking about the iPhone 4 before giz got it. It could also be true the iPhone 5 rumor he started could be true this October.
We all know that Apple doesn't mention what they're doing though, so if there are fabs out there capable of producing 28nm A15's then you'd think Apple would be ready for it.
Actually, I'd say the exact opposite. The benefit from a quad-core is huge, you can do real time physics, dynamic lighting, etc.
Have a look at Tegra 3's Glowball demo, early on in the video he disables two cores to show you how it runs or, doesn't run, I should say: Part 1
Part 2 is pretty impressive too, showing you an underwater environment as well: Part 2
The SGX543MP2 is better than the Tegra 3's GPU but we need a quad-core processor for better graphics too.
When it comes to iOS rumours Topolsky's recent track record is, frankly, abysmal. Yes, they did show pics of the iPhone 4 before Giz but that's because they published the pictures they were sent of the 'found' iPhone 4 prototype but didn't pay for the device itself. Turned out they'd actually had a pic for months showing the iPhone 4 alongside the leaked iPad but hadn't spotted the device was there!
Far more importantly for this story however his track record when it comes to hardware changes over the last 12 months or so is terrible. The iPad 2 was going to come with a retina display and SD slot(?) until being pulled 'at the last minute' (cobblers). The iPhone 5 was supposed to be a radical redesign with a 3.7" screen and gesture area replacing the home button, a 'fact' he was so sure about he posted to both Engadget and ThisIsMyNext / The Verge. Then there was the iCloud farce when he was convinced (and got VERY aggressive towards readers who disagreed but sadly that also seems to be a common theme with his work) that Apple was going to remove any web tools to access iCloud services (e-mail. calendar etc) when MobileMe ended later this year.
So I'd take anything he publishes with a dumptruck full of salt. Could it be right? Absolutely, of course it could. There's no doubt he has sources all the way through the industry and any particular rumour can be correct. But his track record suggests it's a 50/50 shot at best so I wouldn't treat it as gospel just yet.
Anyway with regards the iPad 3 I'd still be somewhat surprised if you didn't see a quad core A9 and quad core graphics processor tucked away inside, if for no other reason that the A6 SoC will presumably find its way into the iPhone 5 as well and a dual core processor running the flagship phone in the first half of 2013 seems unlikely. Yeah they could always do the A7 for that device but it's hardly an efficient use of their production capabilities to be churning out an A6 JUST for the iPad 3.
You guys are funny. No one has noticed that iOS basically keeps on par (if not outperforms) most other mobile phone platforms while having roughly half the resources in specs like RAM?
Don't let the core count become the new MHz myth. It doesn't matter how much horsepower you have if the tranny can't get the power to the wheels
The speed of iOS has been getting progressively poorer over time compared to it's competitors.
It may however just be a temporary hangover due to the clang transition because Lion is also a rather poor performer.
I thought apple's A# archetexture integrated the GPU, is there a separate GPU on iOS devices?
Meh, I don't think so. I think the CPU/GPU of A5 chips are like Intel's CPU, where an integrated GPU comes with it.
My question to you guys is, which is more beneficial for in-game texture/better fps/be able to drive retina display? Faster dual core, or quad core? I'm no CPU guy, so I have no clue which is suppose to be better.
Would like to see the SD card slot. For me the camera connection adaptor is a little untidy IMO.
How can you have been here since 2004 and still be so clueless?
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....There's no such thing as a "quad core" GPU. GPUs have too many functional units nowadays anyway, and they're ALL already scalar. The closet thing to a "quad core GPU" would have been a GeForce 4 4600 Ti 10 years ago. 4 pixel pipes. But that legacy technology isn't the same as what you see today.
Get a clue..
Illiterate much? I'm pretty sure this is not a thread about desktop GPU's which differ significantly in technology.
The A5 has a dual-core Imagination Technologies PowerVR 543MP2. The GPU can support upto a 16core configuration.
Here's you a right up from a year ago on how these GPU's are configured.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review/5
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Generally GPU benefits games more. A dual-core next gen A15 ARM, and a quad-core next gen PowerVR GPU would be absolutely fantastic.
"No one will buy it if there's no quad-cores"
But seriously. Whatever Apple has will be a huge leap forward, as is usual.
Lets be fair, not all apple released are a leap forward. The iPad 2 was a speed bump and a camera addon.
The iPhone 4S was a speedbump and a gimmick (siri) addon.
Whilst they may have a lot of technical differences, the end user differences have been mostly minimal.
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Well done...you can spell
Ah, so Apple could still maintain a dual-core CPU, but upgrade the GPU to quad-core? Man, that would be awesome! I can't wait to try out games demonstrated on Tegra 4 (or was it 3? the one with glow ball demo.)
Don't own/want an iPad, but a quad-core processor in the iPad would have meant one was coming to the iPhone, which would be a pretty tempting upgrade when my contract is up this summer.
Then again, the switch to dual core caused a pretty drastic drop in battery life on the iPhone 4S, I'd hate to see what a quad core processor would do to it.
Then again, the switch to dual core caused a pretty drastic drop in battery life on the iPhone 4S, I'd hate to see what a quad core processor would do to it.
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You need to learn context. My point was to invalidate what I saw as a narrow view of mobile OSes, not comment on sales numbers or buying trends.
Saying they are doing an A15 is different than saying they are doing a quad core A15 out of the gate.
You have to remember that is a demo nVidia coded specifically to use all 4 cores. Those tasks you cite are also better suited to a GPU. Any massively parallel operation is.
Of course, more is better for the CPU, but assuming apple is working inside some fixed area budget for A6, I'd pick a better GPU every day of the week for a retina iPad display.
Of people who publish rumors far in advance in the blog realm, he has the best track record. Even if that number is 50%, it's still better. And he often has the info to nail announcements down the day before.
Samsung's next flagship SoC, the Exynos 5250, will be dual core and power the next galaxy tab and galaxy SIII, which will likely be the best selling android handset. There is an unrealistic stigma on not having quad core in here.
Yes, his understanding doesn't seem to grasp the point of mobile GPUs. They advertise multiple core configurations because they have to have a variety of options for their licensees. Nvidia and AMD have no such issues. They say "here's the part! It has blah blah shaders and blah blah blah ROPs" and people go ooooohhhhh. There's no reason to divide the architecture into cores even when the structure is highly regular and repeated.
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More rumors about iPad3 screen:
http://translate.google.fr/translat...p://www.macotakara.jp/blog/index.php?ID=15656
http://translate.google.fr/translat...p://www.macotakara.jp/blog/index.php?ID=15656
Wow! One rumour blog accusing the other of being "inaccurate", as to still keep their own predictions in the range of "It's still possible!"
A6 quad-core? dual-core? Who knows! But in the end there's always someone else to blame to have brought up these wrong rumours in the first place, now isn't there
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Correction: That'll be the iPad Quad!
Or the iQuad... I am right until proven wrong! (How I love rumours )----------
Covering your ass here, now are we?
Really, I love rumours! Can't be anything wrong about them! The above is like saying "Now we know for sure that the upcoming Foo might support Bar, as they say..."Cheers
I think there is a general misconception that some people think if the processor has more cores or is running at a higher frequency, this will determine the speed of the device. Sure, since iPad tablets don't have a GPU, it is true to some degree. Thinking about a quadcore, you have to have an app which uses four different threads at once with at least two using the full capacity of the core to see a difference. Now, even with the higher resolution, how many apps will do that? Next thing: Using 4 cores at full speed will be nearly impossible with the current RAM configuration. The bandwith and/or speed would have to be increased to allow more data to be calculated actually getting to the cores. If I would be in charge of what to improve, I would go with more cache, higher bandwith for RAM (e.g. like PC dual channel) and other optimizations before I touch the amount of core or speed of cores. Simple reason: using more cores or higher frequency - someone mentioned 2GHz - causes higher temperature and hot spot which then causes 2 problems users don't apreciate: Lower battery life and a heatPad instead of an iPad. Since Apple is all about customer experiance, I don't think the quality control would let this one slide.
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To the ones which cite that the GPU is more important: No such thing exists in iDevices. The Ax are doing all of it - much like the AMD Vision chips for mobile devices.
Edit:
To the ones which cite that the GPU is more important: No such thing exists in iDevices. The Ax are doing all of it - much like the AMD Vision chips for mobile devices.
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