News & Analysis
A peek inside Apple's A6 processor
Dylan McGrath
9/21/2012 1:44 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc.'s A6—the processor powering its new iPhone 5—is likely fabricated by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and may employ ARM's "big-little" graphics processor core scheme, according to a preliminary teardown of the handset done by UBM TechInsights.
Samsung was widely considered the favorite to build the processor for Apple, just as the company has done for previous generations, the A4 and A5. But tensions in the courtroom and elsewhere between the two companies in recent times led to speculation that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) might displace the incumbent this time around.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
But UBM TechInsights said early analysis of the die markings of the A6 reveal markings that are similar to the Samsung markings found in the A4 and A5 processors. (Click to view an analysis and photo slideshow of the teardown).
Apple A6 die marking (source: UBM TechInsights).
The teardown analysis by UBM TechInsights concluded that the A6 die shrink of 95.04 mm2 is much smaller than the 162.54 mm2 of the Apple A5X processor and the 45-nm version of the A5 processor, which was also a large 122.21 mm2.
Apple A6 die photo (click on image to enlarge).
A detailed look at the de-caped A6 by UBM TechInsights revealed that only three of the processors graphics cores are easily identifiable.
Allan Yogasingam, a technical research manager at UBM TechInsights, said Apple may have employed ARM's so called "big-little" technique, which involves pairing a high-performance processor core and a power-efficiency tuned processor core to share processing duties in a cache-coherent combination, yielding overall power savings.
"Apple may have used a 'big-little' approach and gone with either a flexible fourth core or a smaller one," Yogasingam said. "Either way, it’s a very unique processor design which was expected from Apple’s custom approach to it."
A diffusion image of the A6 processor shows the location of the ARM cores and other elements (click on image to enlarge).
UBM TechInsights is owned by UBM plc, the same company that publishes EE Times.
Related stories:
Samsung was widely considered the favorite to build the processor for Apple, just as the company has done for previous generations, the A4 and A5. But tensions in the courtroom and elsewhere between the two companies in recent times led to speculation that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) might displace the incumbent this time around.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
But UBM TechInsights said early analysis of the die markings of the A6 reveal markings that are similar to the Samsung markings found in the A4 and A5 processors. (Click to view an analysis and photo slideshow of the teardown).
Apple A6 die marking (source: UBM TechInsights).
The teardown analysis by UBM TechInsights concluded that the A6 die shrink of 95.04 mm2 is much smaller than the 162.54 mm2 of the Apple A5X processor and the 45-nm version of the A5 processor, which was also a large 122.21 mm2.
Apple A6 die photo (click on image to enlarge).
A detailed look at the de-caped A6 by UBM TechInsights revealed that only three of the processors graphics cores are easily identifiable.
Allan Yogasingam, a technical research manager at UBM TechInsights, said Apple may have employed ARM's so called "big-little" technique, which involves pairing a high-performance processor core and a power-efficiency tuned processor core to share processing duties in a cache-coherent combination, yielding overall power savings.
"Apple may have used a 'big-little' approach and gone with either a flexible fourth core or a smaller one," Yogasingam said. "Either way, it’s a very unique processor design which was expected from Apple’s custom approach to it."
A diffusion image of the A6 processor shows the location of the ARM cores and other elements (click on image to enlarge).
Source: UBM TechInsights
UBM TechInsights is owned by UBM plc, the same company that publishes EE Times.
Related stories:
- Teardown: Inside Apple's iPhone 5
- This is still the same Apple!
- Analyst says Apple designed core for iPhone 5 processor
- Could Apple's A6 be a 'big-little' processor?
- What does iPhone mania say about society?
- Yoshida in China: Whither the neglected 6 billion?
- Teardown: Inside the Kindle Fire HD
- IPhone 5 bill of materials estimate is $167.50
- IPhone 5 draws praise, iPod gets camera
- Supply chain likely unchanged for iPhone 5
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GREAT-Terry
9/25/2012 6:50 AM EDT
What is the main benefit of using such architecture?
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goafrit
9/25/2012 8:19 AM EDT
How I wish you can publish the circuit. I will send you My Nobel Prize award for service to humanity.
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Neo1
9/25/2012 10:16 PM EDT
Don't understand it, why two cores and 3 gpus?
I don't think they are using big little here. It could be just going to new process node and some system changes in the components.
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The MicroMan
9/26/2012 12:32 PM EDT
There's nothing "big-LITTLE" about a couple identical CPUs and a trip of graphics cores. Big-LITTLE is about a smaller CPU (maybe Cortex-A7) to offload a larger CPU (-A15). While big-LITTLE would be a good approach, I'm not sure I've seen any indication that was done in this chip. Separate on-chip graphics cores are standard design practice.
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