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Apple A6 investigation shows highly customized dual-core, triple-GPU layout
There's been a significant mystery lingering around the A6 processor found in the iPhone 5, even as it became clearer that Apple was veering further than usual from the basic ARM formula. A microscope-level inspection by Chipworks and iFixit is at last identifying the key elements of the 32nm, Samsung-assembled chip and revealing just how far it strays from the beaten path. The examination confirms earlier suspicions of a dual-core design with triple-core graphics -- it's how that design is shaped that makes the difference. Apple chose to lay out the two processor cores by hand rather than let a computer do the work, as most ARM partners do. The procedure is expensive and slow, but also gives the A6 a better-optimized design; it explains why the chip is noticeably faster than much of its competition without needing the brute force approaches of higher clock speeds or extra cores. Some mysteries remain, such as the exact PowerVR graphics that are at work, but it's evident Apple now has the design talent and resources to speed up mobile devices on its own terms rather than wait for off-the-shelf layouts like the Cortex-A15.
Apple's architect of iPhone, iPad CPU leaves for AMD
When you're the best, people want you. CPU manufacturer AMD apparently wanted the best, and they've lured Apple's head chip designer Jim Keller away from the company. Keller became an Apple employee in 2008 when Apple acquired startup chipmaker PA Semi. Keller has some former history with AMD, having been the original architect of the Athlon line of processors that were popular in 2005-2006. While at PA Semi and Apple, Keller was responsible for the A4 and A5 processors that power the iPhone and iPad. Apple bought PA Semi in 2008 for US$278 million, moving to the ARM architecture for its mobile devices and shunning Intel's Atom mobile chips in the process. The reasoning behind this move was surprisingly prescient: Apple wanted to move away from its reliance on Samsung to design and make the chips that went into the first iPhone. When he moves to AMD, Keller's new boss will be Mark Papermaster. For a short time, Papermaster was the Apple senior vice president of iPhone engineering. He quit following the 2010 iPhone 4 "antennagate scandal". More details follow in the official press release. Show full PR text August 01, 2012 08:00 ET Computer Architect Jim Keller Joins AMD as Chief of Processor Group Industry Veteran Architected Several Generations of Popular Apple, Broadcom and AMD Processors SUNNYVALE, CA–(Marketwire – Aug 1, 2012) – AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Jim Keller, 53, has joined the company as corporate vice president and chief architect of AMD's microprocessor cores, reporting to chief technology officer and senior vice president of technology and engineering Mark Papermaster. In this role, Keller will lead AMD's microprocessor core design efforts aligned with AMD's ambidextrous strategy with a focus on developing both high-performance and low-power processor cores that will be the foundation of AMD's future products. "Jim is one of the most widely respected and sought-after innovators in the industry and a very strong addition to our engineering team," said Papermaster. "He has contributed to processing innovations that have delivered tremendous compute advances for millions of people all over the world, and we expect that his innovative spirit, low-power design expertise, creativity and drive for success will help us shape our future and fuel our growth." Keller was most recently a director in the platform architecture group at Apple focusing on mobile products, where he architected several generations of mobile processors, including the chip families found in millions of Apple iPads, iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. Prior to Apple, Keller was vice president of design for P.A. Semi, a fabless semiconductor design firm specializing in low-power mobile processors that was acquired by Apple in 2008. While there, he led the team responsible for building a powerful networking System on a Chip (SoC) and its integrated PowerPC processor. Keller previously worked at SiByte® and Broadcom as chief architect for a line of scalable, MIPS-based network processors that supported 1Gig networking interfaces, PCI and other control functions. Before Broadcom, he spent several years at AMD, playing an instrumental role on the design team responsible for the groundbreaking AMD Athlon™ 64 and AMD Opteron™ 64 processors, which featured the world's first native x86-64 bit architecture. Keller co-authored the widely adopted HyperTransport specification, as well as the innovative x86-64 processor instruction set, which is used around the world today in hundreds of millions of desktop, notebook and server systems. Jim was a corporate consulting engineer at DEC, and architected two generations of Alpha processors during his tenure there. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University.
AMD poaches Apple's platform architecture lead to head up CPU team
We suppose after a reasonably high-profile defection of one of AMD's own to Apple, the Sunnyvale company had to exact revenge. That payback was announced today in the form of Jim Keller, the now former platform architecture head in Cupertino, who will be joining AMD as corporate vice president and chief architect of its microprocessor unit. In a statement, the company said that Keller will be leveraging his "low-power design expertise," possibly as part of its oft-rumored ARM plans. Keller previously worked as VP of design at P.A. Semi before being brought into the Apple fold where he played an important role in the development of the processors inside the iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. With AMD struggling to keep pace with Intel in both the desktop and laptop space, a move into low-powered mobile chips could be a plan to stave off more dire days. Check out the PR after the break.
Report: Apple mulling second Israeli facility after Anobit purchase
It looks like Apple's acquisition of Anobit was only one part of its Israel-based plans -- business daily Calcalist is claiming that the company will open a research center there by the end of February. It's unrelated to the purchase of the flash-chip maker, since Ed Frank was apparently despatched to scope out suitable bases for a new facility in early 2011. It's reportedly going to be based in the Matam Technology District, south of Haifa, adjacent to similar facilities operated by Microsoft, Intel and Philips. It's already received hundreds of resumes for engineers: it's looking for those with specific know-how in chip development, hardware testing and verification. The new complex is to be kept separate from Anobit, with no communication allowed between the two teams. Another tidbit that emerged from yesterday's conference call was that Bob Mansfield is integrating Anobit's team into Apple's, but company founder Ehud Weinstein will depart for pastures new -- much in the same way that some of Intrinsity and PA Semi's staff departed after being swallowed by Cupertino's cash.
Apple's A5 chip rumored to have 4X the power of A4
AppleInsider is reporting that both the iPad 2 and the next generation of the iPhone, both rumored to be released later on this year, will feature the next generation of chips designed by Apple. The A5 (named after the A4, the current chip in most iOS devices) is rumored to have two cores, making for faster graphics performance, and enabling things like the iPad 2's rumored Retina Display and HDTV out of the next version of the Apple TV. There's a lot of technical information out about the new chip (it will likely include the new SGX543 graphics core, an upgrade from the current model used by Apple), but with two cores running, the new chip model is supposed to offer around four times the processing power of the current generation. That allows for both the mentioned graphics upgrades, as well as faster computing tasks straight off of the processor with OpenCL. Apple's Intrinsity and P.A. Semi are likely to be the companies behind development, while Samsung is likely working on actual production. We can look for faster, better, stronger Apple chips later on this year. [via Engadget]
More details emerge on Apple's A5 chip for upcoming iPad 2 and iPhone 5
So, AppleInsider has some new info on Apple's successor to the A4, which we were talking up last week, and our sources say it's spot on. Specifically, AI claims that Apple is moving to dual-core SGX543 graphics, up from the A4's single SGX535 GPU (also known as the PowerVR 535). What's particularly great about this move is that the graphical power improvement is rated at around 4X the current generation -- which makes a true 4X resolution iPad "Retina Display" upgrade seem much more of a possibility. We're also starting to see 1080p HDMI video output as a "default" spec in this year's generation of devices, so there's no reason Apple will want to be left out -- particularly in the Apple TV -- and these dual graphics cores could handle that easily. The same cast of A4 characters are to credit for this new A5 generation, including the Apple-owned Intrinsity and PA Semi, while Samsung will again do the production duties. But details aside, we're just excited to play around with all this new horsepower when it hits -- apparently the PSP 2 is rumored to use the same graphics architecture with even more cores. Isn't Moore's law a grand thing?
Apple's A4 is like Samsung's S5, except where it's not
Though the Apple iPad and the Samsung Wave most assuredly share the same brain, EE Times would like you to know there's more to a chip than its core -- analyzing Apple's system-on-a-chip designs in detail back to early iPhones, the publication noticed that Cupertino's silicon both has custom design quirks on top of ARM and shows heavy influence from Samsung as well. EE Times claims that while the A4 and Samsung S5PC110 are similar, there are certainly differences, enough to call the A4 a custom design. Essentially, Apple has a taken a one-size-fits-all product originally engineered to meet the needs of a broad range of OEMs and reduced its complexity, footprint, and cost to match Apple's particular goals. As far as whether PA Semi or Intrinsity had a hand in that design, the authors suggest only the latter seems very involved. What all this means for intellectual property questions is anyone's guess -- we'll let the lawyers fight that one out -- but when you encounter diehard fans that claim one's ripping off the other, at least now you'll be able to calmly explain the situation. Find the deep technical dive at our source link.
Why Apple might want to buy ARM
--- Last January, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." That motivation, backed by Apple's 41 billion cash on hand, makes its rumored acquisition of ARM Holdings so compelling. --- What would you do if you had $41.7 billion in cash reserves? That's what Apple has and, as Ken posted earlier, the rumor du jour suggests the company might use a modestly large chunk of it to acquire ARM Holdings. If such a deal is in the works, it would be Apple's largest purchase ever by an order of magnitude; the suggested £5.2 billion (US$8 billion) sticker price dwarfs the biggest prior buyout, which brought NeXT into Apple for $400 million and delivered the foundations for Mac OS X (along with a certain iCEO). ARM licenses its chips to many consumer electronics heavyweights; in addition to powering the iPad and iPhone, ARM processors power other smartphones, including those running on the Symbian, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7, and yes, Android operating systems. An Apple acquisition of ARM, therefore, could have far-reaching implications on consumer electronics, especially when it comes to competitive access to the latest and greatest ARM chips. In the London Evening Standard article, a trader was quoted as saying "A deal would make a lot of sense for Apple .... That way, they could stop ARM's technology from ending up in everyone else's computers and gadgets." That may be taking it a bit far -- ARM's licensing and product lineup couldn't be made completely private in the short term -- but it would make Apple the most-favored customer for ARM's designs. It would also help Apple's other recent buyout, chip shop Intrinsity, make the most of its expertise. Back in January 2009, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." As the processor plays a pivotal role in shaping the user experience on mobile devices (think performance and power consumption) an acquisition of ARM could provide Apple the ability to better integrate and leverage ARM technologies in order to stay ahead and differentiate from the competition. The A4 chip in the iPad is based on an ARM design, which was first whispered about almost two years ago. In the last two years, Apple has made several notable acquisitions: of semiconductor company P.A. Semi, mapping company Placebase, music streaming service Lala, and mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless. So far, the Quattro Wireless acquisition has produced the most visible results, in the form of iAds. If an ARM acquisition is indeed happening, it'll be fascinating to see what comes out of it.
Google acquires server hardware startup Agnilux, a bevy of former Apple / PA Semi employees in tow?
It's no secret that Google's been on something of a shopping spree as of late, buying startups left for right like it was trying to win the final round of Supermarket Sweep. This latest one's a bit more interesting, though. Agnilux was borne of former PA Semi / Apple engineers, and its director of application software, Scott Redman, used to be a software architect at TiVo -- basically, it's got some talent behind it, and although no projects have ever been announced, the New York Times suggested back in February that "some kind of server" was being made, and there was a partnership with Cisco that we'd assume has now gone the wayside. At any rate, the company -- and probably more important, the employees -- now seem to be the property of Google, who could probably use a few good server men and women in pretty much all aspects of the company.
Apple's A4 SoC faces Qualcomm Snapdragon in knock-down-drag-out benchmarking test
Up until now, a shroud of mystery has surrounded Apple's custom engineered A4 system-on-chip; we know it's clocked at 1GHz, likely tied to Apple's prior acquisition of P.A. Semi and manufactured by Samsung. Outside of that, the only other knowledge we've gained has come not from the mouth of Cupertino, but from the extracting wizards over at iFixit. The A4 contains at least three layers of circuitry layered on top of each other, though it's packaged just like the iPhone processor: microprocessor in one package and two memory modules in the other package. We also learned that the iPad RAM is actually inside of the A4 processor package, and we're expecting to learn even more from those folks in the coming days. All that said, there's still much debate on whether Apple's own silicon can stand up to Qualcomm's heralded 1GHz Snapdragon, the chip powering Google's Nexus One among other things. AnandTech pitted their iPad against the iPhone 3GS (600MHz ARM Cortex A8) and the aforesaid Nexus One (1GHz Snapdragon QSD8250), using a number of website loads as the primary benchmark. Overall, the A4 proved to be around 10 to 30 percent faster, though it's impossible to say what effect the operating system has on things. Have a gander at that source link for more -- we get the feeling the competitions have just begun.
iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products
It may not be as big a surprise as the A4 itself was, but Apple has now confirmed via the latest iPad SDK Beta 3 documentation that the iPad does indeed use PowerVR SGX graphics hardware as part of its custom system-on-a-chip, which flatly contradicts previous reports of A4 using Mali, and lines up with what our pal Anand Shimpi has been telling us lately. What Apple doesn't confirm, unfortunately, is exactly which chip in the PowerVR SGX family the iPad uses, so it's still at least possible that it could pack a bigger punch than the iPhone or iPod touch. In related news, a recent Apple job posting has now also offered up the first hard evidence that Apple might actually be putting its huge investment in A4 to use other platforms besides the iPad -- shocking, we know. That job is for an Engineering Manager, who would lead a team focused on the "bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms," and would otherwise be responsible for "low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms" -- experience with ARM-based SoCs is also an "additional success factor." Sound like the job you've been waiting for? Then hit up the link below for the complete details.
Apple's A4 chip is ARM Cortex A9 with an ARM Mali GPU?
For some of us, amid all the hubbub about revolutions and whatnot yesterday, the most significant announcement on hand was Apple's supposedly custom A4 CPU. Alas, in the cold and brutal light of the morning after, we're hearing that it is in fact a system-on-a-chip driven by a Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU "identical" to the one found inside NVIDIA's Tegra 2, while besting the iPhone 3GS significantly with its 1GHz speed and multicore architecture. The A4 is composed of that Cortex barnburner, an integrated memory controller, and the Mali GPU, making it an all ARM affair -- though we still don't know how much Apple and PA Semi did in terms of arranging and integrating those components within the silicon. While still not 100 percent confirmed, it would seem there were no revolutions on the iPad's processing front -- just a rebranded bit of well engineered hardware.
Analysts debate P.A. Semi's role in forthcoming Apple wares
It's easy to forget that Apple snapped up P.A. Semi for a song way back when, but now that we're just days, hours and seconds away from Apple's expected tablet reveal, a new wave of processor-related conjecture is hitting the fan. Richard Doherty, director of technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, has come forward with some exceedingly detailed rumors on said tablet, a touchscreen MacBook and an OS X-based unicorn that lives in the cloud. As the story goes, Apple's pickup of P.A. Semi was primarily an effort to acquire a huge pool of engineering talent to use for its own internal designs, and now Doherty is saying that "before the year is out, Apple will have the most powerful, lowest-cost SoC in the industry." According to him, there's nothing from "ARM licensees or Intel that could challenge the power-per-watt, the power-per-buck, the power-per-cubic-millimeter of size," and he anticipates that four new products are in the pipeline from Cupertino. Need details? How's about a touchscreen iMac, an "iPod touch on steroids" with a 5-inch display, and "two different versions of media pads in the 7- to 9-inch (screen size) area." Alright Dick, you just put your reputation on the line -- here's hoping you've got your story straight. Update: Looks like UBS Investment Research has been hearing something similar. According to it, the forthcoming tablet "will be powered by a processor designed by P.A. Semi and built by Samsung."
Apple tablet rumors strike back: 9.6-inch with HSDPA and P.A. Semi processor coming February 2010?
Now that all that iPod mess is over and done with, looks like it's as good of time as any to return to the world of Apple tablet rumors. A report from Taiwan Economic News starts us off right, with "industry sources" telling the outlet it'll have a 9.6-inch multitouch screen, built-in HSDPA (so much for Verizon), a P. A. Semi processor, a "long lasting battery pack," and a $799 to $999 price tag. Most to all of that sounds fairly familiar, but coming along with it is a new timeline: shipments will reportedly be delivered to Apple this December in preparation for a launch in February 2010. As for component providers, Taiwanese company DynaPack will reportedly be the exclusive supplier of battery packs, as much as 300,000 per month, while iPhone screen-maker Wintek will be doing the display duties here, too. The author in question here does appear to have some manufacturing sources -- it looks like he was right about the Acer Timeline -- but at this point, we're not ready to believe anything without some photographic evidence of Steve Jobs personally adding the magical unicorn tears. [Via TabletAge]
Apple tablet rumored for launch early next year, for serious this time: seriously
After what AppleInsider claims has been four years of development "riddled with setbacks," Apple is purportedly finalizing its long-rumored tablet for an early 2010 launch. AppleInsider claims to have been tracking the device get bounced back to the drawing board repeatedly over the past few years, but says that Steve Jobs is finally happy with the product and there's an internal go-ahead to get this thing ready for next year, barring any other setbacks. Purported specs include a 10-inch screen, 3G data and a custom ARM processor courtesy of its P.A. Semi purchase -- after previously considering Intel's Atom, as the story goes. Rumors elsewhere point to Verizon data instead of AT&T, but that might just be wishful thinking. While AppleInsider still claims the device is positioned somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop, its inside sources apparently didn't give the thumbs up to early artist renditions of the handheld, and so AI's new and "improved" render is above -- striking fear in the heart of aesthetes everywhere. Sure, we've heard so many iterations of Apple tablet rumors over the years, with varying degrees of confidence behind them, that it's really hard to latch onto yet another promise of this supposedly inevitable device. Still, this is what it is: a decent rumor with some reasonable excuses for "delays" and a glorious promise of tablet nirvana right around the corner. What more could an Apple rumorphile want?
Apple will design its own tablet Mac chips
Rumors have been crisscrossing the Internet about actions by Apple that point tellingly to the advent of an Apple tablet, or some kind of outsize iPod touch. VentureBeat is speculating that Apple may use chips they have developed themselves in the imminent $800 tablet computer.Following some of the back story to the rumor helps it make a little more sense: in 2008, Apple acquired P.A. Semi for $278 million and for seemingly no reason, other than extremely valuable and talented staff (P.A. Semi's founder was a lead designer of the StrongARM processor). Nonetheless, Apple quickly put the team to work developing processors for iPods and iPhones. What no one knew at the time, VentureBeat says, is that Apple actually broke the team in half, with the other half working towards a chip for their upcoming tablet. The tablet is speculated to have only a touch screen with no physical keyboard, and Apple is said to be aiming the tablet at high-end users to avoid the endless need to undercut competitors like Asus and Dell on the lower end. Likewise, more in-house chips could mean lower manufacturing costs for Apple.The impending in-house Apple chips also may imply doom for Apple's chip partner of a few years, NVIDIA, with whom Apple was reported to have a tiff a few weeks ago. Because of disagreements over the way NVIDIA handled issues with faulty chips in MacBook Pros, there was speculation that Apple may drop NVIDIA from future models and return to AMD. Now Apple has added itself to the list of contenders that will vie for processor production. Both the China Times and MacRumors have said that Apple plans to release the tablet for the holiday season, and that it has placed orders with a few companies for components of the tablet. If this web of gossip and hearsay that we're hearing through the grapevine is to be believed, there are more than a few breakthroughs to be had on Apple's end, and the longing for a tablet by some may finally (finally) be put to rest.
Apple's call to ARM
Computerworld's Seth Weintraub speculates that Apple will choose ARM processors for a rumored upcoming tablet or netbook, versus an Intel processor of the same caliber. He cites several reasons, including the acquisition of PA Semi, cost, size, and power efficiency as evidence of the likelihood that Apple will use an ARM processor over an Intel one. ARM processors, he argues, are getting powerful enough to rival their Intel counterparts as Intel chips become more efficient to rival their ARM counterparts. Weintraub spoke with Bob Morris, director of platform enablement for ARM's mobile processor group, who said that two ARM-powered netbooks will hit store shelves in 2009, both probably running the Android operating system. Since we know OS X already works with the ARM architecture, it raises the question: What will this device be, a netbook or a tablet? Analyst Ezra Gottheil from Technology Business Research says Apple can't afford to ignore consumer clamor for dropping prices, and expects Apple to release a $600 netbook in the first half of next year. We'll see. How about you? What would you prefer? Take our poll in the 2nd half of this post. [Via MacDailyNews and O'Grady's PowerPage.]
IBM slaps Apple with a lawsuit for recruiting top chip designer -- like they were going to use him anyways
In broad, soap operatic strokes of the finest sort, IBM and Apple are at each other's throats over Apple's latest recruit: IBM's vice president of microprocessor technology development. Improbably named Mark Papermaster, the man in question is responsible for IBM's blade server division, and IBM is pretty sure there's a non-compete in there somewhere, especially with Apple's recent acquisition of PA Semi, a chip developer with PowerPC technology similar to IBM's -- IBM has filed lawsuits both against Apple in California (a state traditionally indifferent to non-competes) and against Papermaster in New York. We're not going to get into all the sordid details, but just because IBM and Apple are very, very angry at each other right now doesn't mean they're mad at you. Probably.
PA Semi team creating new ARM-based iPhone CPU
Apple Senior Manager Wei-han Lien let slip that teams acquired with the purchase of PA Semi are working on an ARM-based processor for the iPhone, and possibly other devices, according to The New York Times. While not a huge surprise, as Steve himself said that's what the former PA Semi staff was working on, the question was still "what kind of processor?" ARM variants can be customized to meet the needs of very specific devices, including supporting the multi-touch screen, or QuickTime playback. Electronista suggests that this supports earlier hints that Apple licensed the architecture from ARM under a secretive arrangement in late June. Lien updated a section of his LinkedIn profile to describe what he was working on. (The NYT has a screenshot.) Oops. The profile, as you might expect, has been changed.
More iPhone 3G details: future Apple-made chips, varying visual voicemail, and new video features
There's still plenty of emerging details and news on the iPhone 3G kicking around, but here's what you need to know from the minor bits floating around over the past few days: Jobs also told NYT that Apple's acquisition of PA Semi was, in fact, intended to reduce Apple's reliance on third-party chip makers. Specifically, he said, "PA Semi is going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods." So, guess that's that. Per the feature showing up missing on a number of Apple's international iPhone 3G product pages, iLounge compiled a list of carriers which may or may not planning on implementing visual voicemail. Vodafone in Europe, for example, will not have it at launch, and will delay its rollout until later this year. A video of a new iPhone beta build running on live hardware shows videos now in portrait or landscape modes, and includes video playlists. We'll take it. Although DT's iPhone page reads differently, German paper Welt has it that T-Mobile Germany will be selling it for €1 -- so basically free, not unlike O2's iPhone 3G launch in the UK. Update: T-Mobile just made the German pricing official.[Thanks to everyone who sent these in] Read - Jobs mentions PA Semi plansRead - Visual voicemail support varies from carrier to carrierRead - Beta build with portrait-mode videoRead - DT releasing it for €1 (see also their iPhone page)
