a6

After a week of using the iPhone 5, I've posted my review of Apple's new phone on CNET. Which brings me to wondering: how much can a familiar-looking device that we've seemingly known about for months be capable of surprising anyone, much less a tech editor?

For me, the iPhone 5 surprised in the following ways.

The weight Shaving about an ounce off a phone's heft doesn't sound like a lot, and I've always been skeptical of incremental reductions (20 percent lighter!), but the first thing that shocked me when I picked up the … Read more

With signs that Apple has designed one of the fastest smartphone chips yet, Intel is getting set to rev up its smartphone silicon in 2013.

Performance benchmark site Geekbench is already showing the iPhone 5's dual-core A6 central processing unit (CPU) with roughly twice the performance of the A5 chips in the iPhone 4S and third-generation iPad. And Geekbench also has the A6 edging out the quad-core chip in Samsung's Galaxy S III.

And there may be a quad-core Apple A series chip in the works for 2013, according to Linley Gwennap, the principal analyst at The Linley … Read more

How did Apple arrive at the A6 chip in the iPhone 5? A longtime chip analyst documents the long and winding road.

While endorsing a report that the A6 is a unique Apple design, Linley Gwennap, who heads The Linley Group, a chip consultancy, posted a brief history of the A6's chip estimated $500-million-plus development effort in a research note on Saturday.

Some of the history has been documented before, but other parts are not as well known.

Gwennap's firm is the publisher of the Microprocessor Report and it frequently holds conferences on mobile chips.

Here are some … Read more

The iPhone 5's A6 processor appears to be roughly twice as fast as any chip in an existing iOS product, if results posted by Geekbench prove to be accurate.

The results show a score of 1,601, beating the dual-core A5 and A5X processors in the iPhone 4s and third-generation iPad (Retina), respectively.

Previous benchmarks of the Retina iPad show a score of 794 (iPad with 3G/4G). The iPhone 4S posted a score of 631.

If these iPhone 5 benchmarks are legitimate, they would match Apple's claims. "With the new A6 chip, just about everything you … Read more

The iPhone 5 sports 1GB of system memory, twice the amount of the iPhone 4S, a chip review site claims.

And it's faster too, said Anandtech in a post on Saturday.

"Roughly 33 percent more peak memory bandwidth than the iPhone 4S, which can definitely help feed the faster [graphics processing unit] and drive the higher resolution display," Anandtech said.

So, how does Anandtech know this? Apple did not hide the markings (see image above) at the Wednesday event, which revealed a Samsung -- manufacturer of the A6 -- part number.

We'll know for sure that … Read more

Apple's chip investments may have borne native fruit with the A6.

The iPhone 5's A6 may be more of an Apple creation than previous A series chips, according to an updated post by review site Anandtech.

Like Qualcomm, Apple is incorporating more of its in-house expertise into chips. And that means it's getting further away from pure ARM designs. For example, the latest design from U.K.-based ARM is the Cortex A15, which Texas Instruments is using in future chips.

But Apple isn't going that route, according to Anandtech. And that means that past Apple … Read more

Apple's revamp of the iPhone included an overhaul of the inside too. So, what new silicon did Apple drop into the iPhone 5's chassis?

A6 chip: It's faster! (duh). Here's a summary of what Apple says. "Up to twice as fast compared with the [iPhone 4S' A5 chip]...The A6 chip also offers graphics performance that's up to twice as fast as the A5."

Problem is, Apple doesn't say much beyond that. So, I asked Anand Shimpi from chip review site Anandtech.

It turns out that Anand's initial guess was wrong. … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- CNET iPhone 5 Editors' take

- Apple unveils new iPod Touch with 4-inch screen

- New iPod Nano: Remembering the iPod Mini

- Apple's new EarPods were three 3 years in the making???

- Lightning Cable connects old accessories to Apple's newest port

- Apple reworks, simplifies iTunes… Read more

Sources in the industry speaking with DigiTimes (via AppleInsider) have reportedly been expecting the competition in the smartphone world to heat up around the adoption of quad-core processors as early as this year's holiday quarter.

HTC, Samsung, LG, and China's Meizu already have quad-core processors in their phones, leading industry sources to believe that indeed, Apple will have to include a new chip to stay competitive.

That new iPhone is largely expected to be released this fall.

While its competition is mostly using Qualcomm's dual-core technology (quad-core is forthcoming later this year), Apple is expected to use … Read more