PS: What is the rhyme and reason for Apple’s naming convention?
idk... why did the PowerPC G3 start at 3? and why wouldn't Apple's next be the A5? will iPhone 6 have an A16?
bottom line is, few people know, and few people care.
edit: apparently G3 means 3rd generation. even though it was really the 5th iteration of PPC processors... 601 is 1st gen, and they lumped 602, 603, and 604 together as the 2nd generation.
so the A4 could mean 4th gen iOS processor... (A1-A3 being theoretical names, just like the PPC G1 & G2)
It's possible they chose A4 simply because the phone they had in development was the iPhone 4.
I really don't think the next iPhone will be called iPhone 5 because it would look like a real backwards move to go from iPhone 5 in 2011 to iPhone 4G in 2012.
No matter what Apple calls their 2012 model the public will call it the 4G because it will be the first phone to support LTE. So expect to see the iPhone 4 name until 2013.
I read the original newspaper article in Chinese --- I have nothing to add to the translation. It was confusing in the original Chinese version, just "new A8 processor".
If they compare the actual devices chances are the iPhone will feel and perform faster and smoother.
If they only look at the CPU designation then even if the iPhone has a Cortex-A9 but called an Apple-A8 then it could reflect poorly.
I agree with both of those statements. Sadly I'm sure a lot of people would do the latter. I'd be a little surprised if Apple actually called it an A8 because of this reason.
I really don't think the next iPhone will be called iPhone 5 because it would look like a real backwards move to go from iPhone 5 in 2011 to iPhone 4G in 2012.
the should stick with the number. iPhone 4, 5, 6... the 3G really messed it up. and now the original is also called the 2G which confuses people as well.
PS: What is the rhyme and reason for Apple?s naming convention?
Only Apple knows and I'm sure there's a system.
I would say the 'A' stands for Apple. And the '4' was chosen because it was going into a fourth generation device; the iPhone 4 using a fourth generation OS; iOS 4
The average consumer couldn't give two hoots what processor is in a phone. You're mistaking the average consumer with a techy person
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
Two single core Cortex-A8s would be better than one dual-core Cortex-A9 for battery efficiency and interoperability?
No it would be dual 1GHz Cortex A9, I just mean the A8 naming convention works to suggest it's dual-core vs the A4.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
LOL I think you want this to happen as much as I want optical drives to go away. I think I’ll get my wish first. This may be common at some point but I think we’ll have to wait for some real consumer interest before Apple jumps in with Aqua UI on top of iOS. I think it will years before that is a viable consideration.
It wouldn't be the aqua UI though, it would be Lion's fullscreen UI. Apple doesn't wait for consumer interest either otherwise there wouldn't be an iPad right now. At the moment, the Motorola Atrix phone is the only device doing this and it's not great because the performance is sluggish. I remember back when the only real touchscreen phone before the iPhone was the LG Prada and then Apple upped the game for everyone.
It's convenient that Lion and the next iPhone will debut at the same time.
Think how well that device would take on the netbook market. It would be ideal for students as they don't need to buy both an iPad and an iPod/iPhone and they can use it exactly like a laptop. An iPod inside this case could be less than $400 and they could make the lightest 15" laptop ever.
What about a combo CDMA/GSM chip/phone? Possible? Why not? (Keep in mind that a computer smaller than the size of a room was impossible at one point in time. And it's not like it would be a quantum leap, but more like a x.x.1 update.)
What happens when the average consumer compares an Android Phone with an A9 and an iPhone with an A8?
Won't happen cause Android people call their CPUs "Snapdragon" or "Tegra" or other monikers, and Apple doesn't publish much about their CPU at all, calling it the "Apple A4" but not indicating other details such as the clock speed, integrated GPU, integrated memory, etc. Even so, I wish they'd just name the next chip the "Apple A5".
If they compare the actual devices chances are the iPhone will feel and perform faster and smoother.
If they only look at the CPU designation then even if the iPhone has a Cortex-A9 but called an Apple-A8 then it could reflect poorly.
Yeah, they should stick an MC68000 in it... that sucker would really scream! LOL
I'm going to guess they're going the generational route that IBM takes with its POWER line... POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, currently POWER7. Even if they don't, revision/model numbers should only used to compare products from the same manufacturer.
Like Windows 95 vs. Windows 7... boy did Microsoft take a huge step backwards. Confused the heck out of every one! LOL
Won't happen cause Android people call their CPUs "Snapdragon" or "Tegra" or other monikers, and Apple doesn't publish much about their CPU at all, calling it the "Apple A4" but not indicating other details such as the clock speed, integrated GPU, integrated memory, etc. Even so, I wish they'd just name the next chip the "Apple A5".
Yeah, most won't have A9 in the name, but some may. I wouldn't be surprised to see it called A5. A8 is just a rumor after all.
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
Perhaps that's why Apple doesn't mention the CPU in the specs? (or GPU, RAM and other things for that matter).
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
No, they won't. The average person doesn't read specs, they look at price, availability at the time of purchase, and whatever emotional connection they make with the device.
People aren't buying Android phones because they get excited by the latest mobile CPU, as much as tech blogs and enthusiasts like to salivate over same. They buy Android phones because they went to the Verizon store and they wanted to upgrade and that's what was there. Sure, the sales guy is right there to assure them that the more expensive choice goes to 11, but that's the case regardless of what's under the hood.
How many people give a shit, or even know, what's in the current iPhone compared to what's in the latest wonder Android phone? They care if their battery goes dry before they can get through a day, they care if video plays without dropping frames, they care if the UI feels reasonably fluid and doesn't have weird stutters and pauses that make the machine more difficult to use.
Apple will call their next processor whatever they want, but what they'll talk about is the experience. They'll make a big deal about their in-house development effort, how its the fastest bestest iPhone ever, Steve will say "this thing really screams" during his keynote, and all of it will be couched in terms that make head to head spec comparisons irrelevant.
How do I know all this? Because that's what they've always done, and it seems to work great for them. I have no idea why people continue to imagine that Apple is worried about "specs" compared to the competition, or that the general buying public is following the hyperventilation at Endgadget or Gizmodod over dual core mega giga. It's demonstrably untrue. My guess is that a fairly high percentage of Android users don't even know, or care what OS is running on their phone and just dig having a functional browser.
I really don't understand why this matters. In what way would it improve the iOS products?
True. None of this matters until the specs show more power/speed and less battery use. From there, then Apple can add more features to iOS, which provide tools to app developers, which provide value to iOS.
But the chip is key to this. UX on these things require _snappy_ response. the more heuristics put into the response requires more processor, ideally using the same power per action as the previous experience.
Comments
PS: What is the rhyme and reason for Apple’s naming convention?
idk... why did the PowerPC G3 start at 3? and why wouldn't Apple's next be the A5? will iPhone 6 have an A16?
bottom line is, few people know, and few people care.
edit: apparently G3 means 3rd generation. even though it was really the 5th iteration of PPC processors... 601 is 1st gen, and they lumped 602, 603, and 604 together as the 2nd generation.
so the A4 could mean 4th gen iOS processor... (A1-A3 being theoretical names, just like the PPC G1 & G2)
A1 = iPhone, iPod touch & iPhone 3G
A2 = iPod touch 2
A3 = iPhone 3Gs, iPod touch 3
A4 = iPhone 4, iPad & iPod touch 4
but then the A8 makes no sense.
What happens when the average consumer compares an Android Phone with an A9 and an iPhone with an A8?
If they compare the actual devices chances are the iPhone will feel and perform faster and smoother.
If they only look at the CPU designation then even if the iPhone has a Cortex-A9 but called an Apple-A8 then it could reflect poorly.
I really don't think the next iPhone will be called iPhone 5 because it would look like a real backwards move to go from iPhone 5 in 2011 to iPhone 4G in 2012.
No matter what Apple calls their 2012 model the public will call it the 4G because it will be the first phone to support LTE. So expect to see the iPhone 4 name until 2013.
What happens when the average consumer compares an Android Phone with an A9 and an iPhone with an A8?
The average consumer couldn't give two hoots what processor is in a phone. You're mistaking the average consumer with a techy person
If they compare the actual devices chances are the iPhone will feel and perform faster and smoother.
If they only look at the CPU designation then even if the iPhone has a Cortex-A9 but called an Apple-A8 then it could reflect poorly.
I agree with both of those statements. Sadly I'm sure a lot of people would do the latter. I'd be a little surprised if Apple actually called it an A8 because of this reason.
I really don't think the next iPhone will be called iPhone 5 because it would look like a real backwards move to go from iPhone 5 in 2011 to iPhone 4G in 2012.
the should stick with the number. iPhone 4, 5, 6... the 3G really messed it up. and now the original is also called the 2G which confuses people as well.
PS: What is the rhyme and reason for Apple?s naming convention?
Only Apple knows and I'm sure there's a system.
I would say the 'A' stands for Apple. And the '4' was chosen because it was going into a fourth generation device; the iPhone 4 using a fourth generation OS; iOS 4
The average consumer couldn't give two hoots what processor is in a phone. You're mistaking the average consumer with a techy person
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
Two single core Cortex-A8s would be better than one dual-core Cortex-A9 for battery efficiency and interoperability?
No it would be dual 1GHz Cortex A9, I just mean the A8 naming convention works to suggest it's dual-core vs the A4.
LOL I think you want this to happen as much as I want optical drives to go away. I think I’ll get my wish first. This may be common at some point but I think we’ll have to wait for some real consumer interest before Apple jumps in with Aqua UI on top of iOS. I think it will years before that is a viable consideration.
It wouldn't be the aqua UI though, it would be Lion's fullscreen UI. Apple doesn't wait for consumer interest either otherwise there wouldn't be an iPad right now. At the moment, the Motorola Atrix phone is the only device doing this and it's not great because the performance is sluggish. I remember back when the only real touchscreen phone before the iPhone was the LG Prada and then Apple upped the game for everyone.
It's convenient that Lion and the next iPhone will debut at the same time.
Think how well that device would take on the netbook market. It would be ideal for students as they don't need to buy both an iPad and an iPod/iPhone and they can use it exactly like a laptop. An iPod inside this case could be less than $400 and they could make the lightest 15" laptop ever.
What happens when the average consumer compares an Android Phone with an A9 and an iPhone with an A8?
Won't happen cause Android people call their CPUs "Snapdragon" or "Tegra" or other monikers, and Apple doesn't publish much about their CPU at all, calling it the "Apple A4" but not indicating other details such as the clock speed, integrated GPU, integrated memory, etc. Even so, I wish they'd just name the next chip the "Apple A5".
If they compare the actual devices chances are the iPhone will feel and perform faster and smoother.
If they only look at the CPU designation then even if the iPhone has a Cortex-A9 but called an Apple-A8 then it could reflect poorly.
Yeah, they should stick an MC68000 in it... that sucker would really scream! LOL
I'm going to guess they're going the generational route that IBM takes with its POWER line... POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, currently POWER7. Even if they don't, revision/model numbers should only used to compare products from the same manufacturer.
Like Windows 95 vs. Windows 7... boy did Microsoft take a huge step backwards. Confused the heck out of every one! LOL
Won't happen cause Android people call their CPUs "Snapdragon" or "Tegra" or other monikers, and Apple doesn't publish much about their CPU at all, calling it the "Apple A4" but not indicating other details such as the clock speed, integrated GPU, integrated memory, etc. Even so, I wish they'd just name the next chip the "Apple A5".
Yeah, most won't have A9 in the name, but some may. I wouldn't be surprised to see it called A5. A8 is just a rumor after all.
And it begins...no longer able to inundate us with Verizon rumors, we will now have a year of iPhone 5 rumors.
Nahhh. Just 6 months.
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
Perhaps that's why Apple doesn't mention the CPU in the specs? (or GPU, RAM and other things for that matter).
The average consumer will read specs if they are presented to them and they will assume that the A9 is faster. It's not a good perception, even if it doesn't impact their buying decision.
No, they won't. The average person doesn't read specs, they look at price, availability at the time of purchase, and whatever emotional connection they make with the device.
People aren't buying Android phones because they get excited by the latest mobile CPU, as much as tech blogs and enthusiasts like to salivate over same. They buy Android phones because they went to the Verizon store and they wanted to upgrade and that's what was there. Sure, the sales guy is right there to assure them that the more expensive choice goes to 11, but that's the case regardless of what's under the hood.
How many people give a shit, or even know, what's in the current iPhone compared to what's in the latest wonder Android phone? They care if their battery goes dry before they can get through a day, they care if video plays without dropping frames, they care if the UI feels reasonably fluid and doesn't have weird stutters and pauses that make the machine more difficult to use.
Apple will call their next processor whatever they want, but what they'll talk about is the experience. They'll make a big deal about their in-house development effort, how its the fastest bestest iPhone ever, Steve will say "this thing really screams" during his keynote, and all of it will be couched in terms that make head to head spec comparisons irrelevant.
How do I know all this? Because that's what they've always done, and it seems to work great for them. I have no idea why people continue to imagine that Apple is worried about "specs" compared to the competition, or that the general buying public is following the hyperventilation at Endgadget or Gizmodod over dual core mega giga. It's demonstrably untrue. My guess is that a fairly high percentage of Android users don't even know, or care what OS is running on their phone and just dig having a functional browser.
I really don't understand why this matters. In what way would it improve the iOS products?
True. None of this matters until the specs show more power/speed and less battery use. From there, then Apple can add more features to iOS, which provide tools to app developers, which provide value to iOS.
But the chip is key to this. UX on these things require _snappy_ response. the more heuristics put into the response requires more processor, ideally using the same power per action as the previous experience.