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Andrzej11
Sorry, I meant to write “You're”. I guess I'm going to have to go easy on Rick ...
Andrzej11
Your absolutely right. Two grammatical errors in a row and they still remain ...
IPhone 5 expected to sport quad-core, LTE
Rick Merritt
9/10/2012 6:19 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Apple is expected to launch its iPhone 5 this week, sporting a custom quad-core processor, LTE, an upgraded image sensor and a new, smaller connector. Pundits debate whether the new handset will pack near-field communications and a larger display.
Apple has scheduled a press conference at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center Wednesday (Sept. 12). But the questions about just what any new device announced there does or does not have inside may need to wait until systems go on sale and tear down experts examine them.
Meanwhile, experts believe Apple needs to catch up with the likes of its Android rivals who are already shipping handsets with quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processors and support LTE.
Apple’s next A-series apps processor will likely include four Cortex A9s and four PowerVR graphics cores, if Apple maintains the same processor vendors it used for previous A-series designs, said Allan Yogasingam, a tear down expert at UBM TechInsights (Ottawa), a division of UBM LLC which publishes EE Times. In addition, the iPhone 5 will likely use the same Qualcomm MDM9600 baseband processor in the latest iPad which supports LTE.
Apple’s archrival Samsung and others have been shipping LTE handsets for some time. Apple might try to differentiate itself by using a baseband that also supports China’s 3G standard TD-SCDMA, said Will Strauss, principal of market watcher Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.).
“TD-SCDMA support would be a real coup because they could have a single phone that could be used virtually worldwide though you will never get all the global LTE spectrum bands supported,” said Strauss. “There’s a ready market for TD-SCDMA in China Mobile which has become the world’s largest buyer for cellphones-- bigger than AT&T and Verizon,” he said.
Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to pack a custom quad-core ARM A9 processor.
Apple could make the leap to packing four of ARM’s latest A15 cores in its apps processor. Texas Instruments is shipping a quad A15 chip focused on cellular basestations. But the move would be a surprisingly large leap for Apple, said both Yogasingam and Strauss, who expect the Apple A-series to use four A9 cores.
Apple is widely expected to upgrade the iPhones aging connector to a slimmer design with fewer pins. The connector gives Apple hardware designers more wiggle room, but it would force end users to buy new peripherals or at least adapters to link new handsets to existing docks.
The connector “could put a lot of product lines out of business,” said Strauss. “It’s good news, bad news—they get to sell the same damn thing with a new connector,” he said.
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DavidMichael
9/10/2012 6:25 PM EDT
gdfgdfgd
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goafrit
9/10/2012 7:02 PM EDT
Apple is such a lucky company. The free press is awesome and the analyses of the products provide new data.
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tangey
9/11/2012 1:31 AM EDT
The chances of it being Mali are exactly ZERO.
Most of the higher end games make EXTENSIVE use of PowerVR texture compression, which is proprietary to Imagination Technology IP. A move away from itheir graphics IP would render all such games un-runnable overnight.
Techinsights are totally lacking insight on this occasion.
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rick.merritt
9/11/2012 2:03 AM EDT
Any other "insights" into current or future Apple A-series graphics?
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MikeSB
9/11/2012 5:37 AM EDT
This is a terrible article.
- TI's OMAP 5 and Samsung's Exynos 5 SoCs with dual A15 are coming out soon. Why no speculation that apple will do the same?
- "Texas Instruments is shipping a quad A15 chip focused on cellular base stations." This is not justification for it appearing in a phone - why would anyone put an SoC that draws several watts into a smartphone?
- Quad A9s generally offer little performance improvement over Dual A9, and as iOS doesn't have much in the way of multitasking, why would Apple add two more cores?
- tangey's point about graphics optimisation makes a lot of sense regarding Mali vs SGX5xx. There's no reason to believe Apple would make the switch, and again, Yogasingam presumably has no justification for it other than he saw an article about Mali on the internet at some point.
- There are dozens of leaked photos and quotes from suppliers that show the new iPhone having a larger display. Why has Strauss completely ignored this?
Clearly Yogasingam and Strauss have little to no understanding of electronics or product engineering. It seems very strange and slightly disappointing that EETimes has quoted them when I'm sure Rick has a far greater understanding than they do.
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GREAT-Terry
9/11/2012 9:27 AM EDT
After so many leaked photos shown on the internet, I saw no breath taking insight on the long waiting iPhone5. Frankly, if it is just all about change a new CPU core (or cores), larger display, support for multi-standard (or multi-band), why should I buy this phone over the already overwhelmingly nicer Galaxy 3s?
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m00nshine
9/11/2012 12:32 PM EDT
Why? Because Apple is having huge lawsuit now to ban Galaxy S3 so you won;t have a choice but to buy only the Apple phone...
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andyzg
9/11/2012 12:54 PM EDT
every news publication i read has permanent, ongoing coverage of apple. daily, hourly. ran out of rumors? headline becomes "Heard any good iPhone rumors lately?".
the reporting about apple is way out of proportion.
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jameszhou2000
9/11/2012 3:03 PM EDT
I really don’t see the necessity for the quad-core ARM for iphone. iOS architecture already uses a lot of GPU hardware for drawing. Android is different and it uses a lot of CPU power for UI drawing and even with quad-core, the UI is still not as smooth as iOS. Of course there are many other reasons for that, but Android does benefits a lot from having a quad-core, and I don’t see a comparable gain for iPhone to have quad-core CPU. Having quad-core GPU is critical for iphone because it boosts its UI performance, and it needs to drive more pixels. Also, if Apple wants to change the phone device to a portable gaming device, boosting GPU power makes more sense than boosting CPU power.
Apple might put a quad-core in there, but I don’t think that’s based on need. Or, unless there is new fancy features that require quad-core computing power …
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Some Guy
9/11/2012 4:37 PM EDT
New connector? It's really hard to see any middle ground between the cell-phone standard micro-USB and the existing Apple connector. Either way is going to make folks who are invested in the existing peripherals mad. If you have to change, you can at least find some support for one of the other of these two alternatives. Finally, yet another NEW apple connector will alienate all the end-users.
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t.alex
9/11/2012 7:29 PM EDT
And iOS6 :) ?
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Neo1
9/11/2012 11:05 PM EDT
.. but it defininitely will be a rectangle with rounded corners!
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t.alex
9/12/2012 12:55 AM EDT
Haha good one. Is there any chance it will violate Samsung patents ?
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rick.merritt
9/12/2012 12:39 AM EDT
I really see Apple playing a lot of catch up here in displays, LTE, small connectors and etc.
I wonder what they will do to continue to set themselves apart?
Strauss says, they can just be Apple.
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Andrzej11
9/12/2012 1:15 AM EDT
You may wish to correct the date of the press conference to Sept. 12 and while your at it get rid of the “the” in “it’s the aging accelerometer”.
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DickH
9/12/2012 5:09 PM EDT
... and the apostrophe, in that case.
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Andrzej11
9/12/2012 7:28 PM EDT
Your absolutely right. Two grammatical errors in a row and they still remain uncorrected. At least they fixed the date.
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Andrzej11
9/12/2012 7:40 PM EDT
Sorry, I meant to write “You're”. I guess I'm going to have to go easy on Rick now.
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Brakeshoe
9/12/2012 1:24 PM EDT
So-called "Near Field Communications" (NFC) is vitally important for direct wireless communications to the 8.4 million Americans among us who wear hearing aids.
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Johnwalko
9/12/2012 2:03 PM EDT
Maybe a bit off beam, but just saw that Apple is suing a Polish on-line supermarket chain for having the gall to use the addrees A.pl. If any Polsh retailers of green or any flavour apples wants to countersue , I will contribute a few Zloty's towads the legal costs
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bempey
9/12/2012 6:55 PM EDT
Let's see: larger display, NFC (like my nearly year-old Google/Samsung Nexus, precursor to the Galaxy-IIIs), and quad-core CPU, which is current "generic" processor power, as in the Freescale i.MX6 ... wow Apple is almost catching up to Samsung's old products, while Samsung and Google/Android are preparing to release the next generation products that are 2 gen ahead of what Apple is chasing. Wish I had cash to sell-short on Apple stock, except the price will remain high for a decade after they peak (which they have) just like Microsoft.
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bempey
9/12/2012 7:04 PM EDT
Rick, its obvious Apple have run out of ways to differentiate, so they've taken a page from Microsoft: Its cheaper to litigate than to innovate. Or "If you can't beat-em, squash 'em"
Hence the bogus patents over something like curving the edges to make the product look slimmer (something taught in design schools for over 50 years ... how long ago did they remove the [very practical] running-boards from cars in the name of appearance?)
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