iPhone 5 Runs Dual-Core Cortex-A15, Says Analyst Firm

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Despite the current processor performance focus in the smartphone space, Apple keeps quiet on the architecture of its new chips.

However, Nomura Equity Research said that the A6 chip in the recently unveiled is a Cortex-A15 design manufactured in a 32 nm HKMG process by Samsung. There was no information on the clock speed, but we know that the Cortex-A15 in the dual-core Samsung Exynos 5250 currently scales to about 1.5 GHz in smartphone applications.

Apple itself declined to comment on the statement and referred to its press release, in which the company describes the processor as "blazing fast" and "designed […] to maximize performance and power efficiency to support all the incredible new features in iPhone 5, including the stunning new 4-inch Retina display—all while delivering even better battery life." According to Apple, the A6 has "twice the CPU and graphics performance" of the preceding Cortex-A9-based ARM chip.

Apple still licenses the graphics IP from Imagination Technologies, which would make it reasonable to assume that the A6 uses Imagination technology as its graphics engine. Details are unclear, even if we tend to believe that the A6 still uses a PowerVR series 5 chip than a version of the PowerVR series 6 (which has not been formally announced, but is still believed to debut sometime later this year). According to Imagination, the series 6 chip is much more power-efficient than the current series 5.

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Wolfgang Gruener
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bustapr
    im not at all in favor of Apple(or any company) marketing their shit as "Twice as fast". its blatantly lying 99% of the time, and this time its quite obvious. false marketing could possibly get them sued.
    Reply
  • greghome
    A bit off topics, but
    Seriously though, what if Apple only made the new iPhone longer so they can better sue samsung in the future as the width length ratio would be more similar? :o
    Reply
  • house70
    smoke and mirrors, my friends, smoke and mirrors...
    Reply
  • extremepcs
    Revolutionary!
    Reply
  • dwesely
    An Apple article on Tom's. Queue trolling...
    Reply
  • lilotimz
    Problem is wouldn't Apple use the fact that there are no other A15 SOC's in the market to announce that the Iphone 5 is "revolutionary" because no other phone has incorporated it yet (The s4 krait is a custom SoC that uses elements of both A15/A9 and is not a true A15 design).
    Reply
  • dark_wizzie
    Greghome, what if they patent every single shape?
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    Ok, so, there's no doubt that the new CPU must be both faster and more efficient. Great. Now put that extra performance to good use. Please. That's where most phone manufacturers fail--iphone, android, tablets, whatever. I'm still dumbfounded that my single-core snapdragon android phone is smoother and snappier in every way when compared to my tegrat2 tablet. It's all about implementation.
    Reply
  • robochump
    Depending on the benchmarks the new A6 (Cortex A-15) chip will be double the speed but gotta check the bench mark tests. Even then Apple has been more accurate than most with their claims and I am sure the tests will prove it. Where are the iHaters? I need a good laugh!
    Reply
  • halcyon
    I care not what chip is in the iPhone 5. My iPhone 4s seems to function reasonably well and, from this, I infer, like most iSheep, that the iPhone 5 will as well. I'm just not overly excited by it, its a phone.
    Reply