Intel is already running scared. Even this year they are behind on shipments. I'm surprised that they are pushing Apple harder to break out new desktops as right now they need every sale they can get.
If you are intel and you know this year might be the first time tablets will out sell pc/laptops and you see what the chips are doing on phones you are scare sh*tless. In 3 years what will be your unit sold number?
If Apple keeps moving forward like this they might actually force Intel into the foundry business. Intel will need Apples ARM volume to help pay for its new factories. Either that or we start seeing sharp increases in the cost of Intel processors.
Your problem is that you see those numbers as counts when they are in reality designators. As long as you are hung up on numbers as counts you will be frustrated.
The first three may have been chips that Apple built in-house to test their abilities that were never released. I don't see how starting with 4 makes sense otherwise, but what do I know about counting? I still only use numbers.
OK, so what's the defining point of A1, A2 and A3? Is it just arbitrary? Like how the sixth model of the iPhone is iPhone 5?
Apple didn't begin publicly calling PowerPC chips by their generation until G3. Note that was when Steve Jobs arrived and worked to simplify the Mac lineup, boiling everything down to a G3 tower and a G3 notebook. Then G4 and G5. Note that nobody else was using these chips, but prior to the G3, there were Mac cloners, and a briefly a PC/workstation market built around them.
Apple has never called much attention to Intel's chips, likely because it wants to sell Macs, not Intel chips. Everyone has access to Intel chips.
With iOS/iPod devices, Apple initially began using generic off the shelf chips (mostly Samsung) that it didn't care about the public knowing anything about. Once it got to the point where it had injected enough of its own proprietary tech to differentiate the chip from competitors' it began giving them names: A4, A5, A5X, A6. Nobody else can claim an A6.
But the A4 was called that because it was the fourth major generation of the design Apple had been using. They were just never called A1 A2 A3 for the same reason the early PPC chips were never called G1 or G2.
It's important when the difference is meaningful, as it was in 2009 with the iPhone 3GS vs Palm Pre, or the 2010 dual core iPad 2 A5 vs the RIM PlayBook, or the A6 vs stuff that was calling itself faster but really wasn't, including the "we've got lots of cores" Samsung contingent and the "we've got lots of GHz" Intel camp.
Being faster is, actually, more important that meaningless spec numbers that aren't offering any real improvement to their users.
I'm not really sure if the average iPhone users can actually distinguish any real improvement between upgrades.
I went from a 3G to an iPhone 4 and let me tell you it was very noticeable. I suspect that the speed of this new phone would be very noticeable for anybody upgrading from a 4 or 4s in the same way that the performance of my iPad is much better than the iPhone. Differences in user interface interaction is very noticeable down to the large millisecond range.
I went from a 3G to an iPhone 4 and let me tell you it was very noticeable. I suspect that the speed of this new phone would be very noticeable for anybody upgrading from a 4 or 4s in the same way that the performance of my iPad is much better than the iPhone. Differences in user interface interaction is very noticeable down to the large millisecond range.
I noticed the retina on the iPHone 4. Astonishing. It was the 'jump' on point for me and my 1st iPHone.
The 4S is a great phone. Very fast and some great tech' in it. Fab' Gpu performance.
The iPhone 5 is off the charts better. When things like Ivy bridge are offering nominal cpu performance...
...on the iPhone 5? Twice as fast cpu performance, GPU performance is 8(!) times faster than the iPhone 4 I have.
Looking at racing game in the keynote (apple using gaming in keynotes...whatever next..?) with the reflections and refined graphics...almost PS3 class graphics...in such a tiny, tiny machine. Feed it through air play onto your hi def tv... Console of the future.
What excuse do the Mac Minis of the world have for being such bad value for money?
So you're comparing a phone that was released today to a phone that was released a year ago?
Why?
Do you believe this to be a fair comparison?
That aside, odd-core layouts have gained some prominence for power-saving capabilities--for example, running one "little" core for rather idle jobs, such as rendering the "desktop", and starting additional cores when more power is needed. Nvidia does this in some of the Tegra family SoCs.
So you're comparing a phone that was released today to a phone that was released a year ago?
Why?
Do you believe this to be a fair comparison?
That aside, odd-core layouts have gained some prominence for power-saving capabilities--for example, running one "little" core for rather idle jobs, such as rendering the "desktop", and starting additional cores when more power is needed. Nvidia does this in some of the Tegra family SoCs.
Comments
Well, "A4" being the first unit of a series introduced to the public is not unprecedented: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2
If Apple keeps moving forward like this they might actually force Intel into the foundry business. Intel will need Apples ARM volume to help pay for its new factories. Either that or we start seeing sharp increases in the cost of Intel processors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Doesn't the 3rd gen iPad use quad core graphics in the A5X?
Yes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
OK, so what's the defining point of A1, A2 and A3? Is it just arbitrary? Like how the sixth model of the iPhone is iPhone 5?
Apple didn't begin publicly calling PowerPC chips by their generation until G3. Note that was when Steve Jobs arrived and worked to simplify the Mac lineup, boiling everything down to a G3 tower and a G3 notebook. Then G4 and G5. Note that nobody else was using these chips, but prior to the G3, there were Mac cloners, and a briefly a PC/workstation market built around them.
Apple has never called much attention to Intel's chips, likely because it wants to sell Macs, not Intel chips. Everyone has access to Intel chips.
With iOS/iPod devices, Apple initially began using generic off the shelf chips (mostly Samsung) that it didn't care about the public knowing anything about. Once it got to the point where it had injected enough of its own proprietary tech to differentiate the chip from competitors' it began giving them names: A4, A5, A5X, A6. Nobody else can claim an A6.
But the A4 was called that because it was the fourth major generation of the design Apple had been using. They were just never called A1 A2 A3 for the same reason the early PPC chips were never called G1 or G2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corrections
It's important when the difference is meaningful, as it was in 2009 with the iPhone 3GS vs Palm Pre, or the 2010 dual core iPad 2 A5 vs the RIM PlayBook, or the A6 vs stuff that was calling itself faster but really wasn't, including the "we've got lots of cores" Samsung contingent and the "we've got lots of GHz" Intel camp.
Being faster is, actually, more important that meaningless spec numbers that aren't offering any real improvement to their users.
I'm not really sure if the average iPhone users can actually distinguish any real improvement between upgrades.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Funny how they don't matter to you when you're not winning.
Lol. Good one Tallest Skil, gave him a good kick in the nuts with that one...
'You're not singing anymore...!'
Lemon Bon Bon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
I went from a 3G to an iPhone 4 and let me tell you it was very noticeable. I suspect that the speed of this new phone would be very noticeable for anybody upgrading from a 4 or 4s in the same way that the performance of my iPad is much better than the iPhone. Differences in user interface interaction is very noticeable down to the large millisecond range.
I noticed the retina on the iPHone 4. Astonishing. It was the 'jump' on point for me and my 1st iPHone.
The 4S is a great phone. Very fast and some great tech' in it. Fab' Gpu performance.
The iPhone 5 is off the charts better. When things like Ivy bridge are offering nominal cpu performance...
...on the iPhone 5? Twice as fast cpu performance, GPU performance is 8(!) times faster than the iPhone 4 I have.
Am I getting an iPhone 5.
'Yes I am...' :P
Lemon Bon Bon.
Looking at racing game in the keynote (apple using gaming in keynotes...whatever next..?) with the reflections and refined graphics...almost PS3 class graphics...in such a tiny, tiny machine. Feed it through air play onto your hi def tv... Console of the future.
What excuse do the Mac Minis of the world have for being such bad value for money?
iPhone 5. An astonishing piece of engineering.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shidell
So you're comparing a phone that was released today to a phone that was released a year ago?
Why?
Do you believe this to be a fair comparison?
That aside, odd-core layouts have gained some prominence for power-saving capabilities--for example, running one "little" core for rather idle jobs, such as rendering the "desktop", and starting additional cores when more power is needed. Nvidia does this in some of the Tegra family SoCs.
From Wikipedia: Galaxy S3
"First released 29 May 2012; 3 months ago"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shidell
So you're comparing a phone that was released today to a phone that was released a year ago?
Why?
Do you believe this to be a fair comparison?
That aside, odd-core layouts have gained some prominence for power-saving capabilities--for example, running one "little" core for rather idle jobs, such as rendering the "desktop", and starting additional cores when more power is needed. Nvidia does this in some of the Tegra family SoCs.
From Wikipedia: Galaxy S3
"First released 29 May 2012; 3 months ago"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Doesn't the 3rd gen iPad use quad core graphics in the A5X?
Yes, and likely needed because of the sheer number of pixels.