Given the increasing legal contention between Apple and Samsung, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Apple is considering moving production of their next generation Apple A6 system-on-a-chip (SoC) to from the Korean conglomerate to Taiwan’s TSMC.

Dan Heyler, a semiconductor analyst with Merrill Lynch in Taipei, told the China-based Commercial Times newspaper on Friday that TSMC will most likely be producing “A6″ processors for Apple, a next-generation ARM-based design, in 2012. That jibes with what Ars has heard from a plugged-in source—that the chatter on the foundry grapevine about an impending Apple/TSMC deal is growing deafening.

If Samsung doesn’t get to see iPhone 5 early, why should they get the designs to the Apple A6, right? Of course, the nature of huge mega-corporations means Apple could be viciously suing one part of Samsung and still be on productive business terms with a completely separate division. Could being the operative word. Apple may simply not like the idea of Samsung having access to the SoC (and other specs) for competitive reasons. Or TSMC could be providing something else even more compelling to Apple for the A6, and moving away from Samsung is just a bonus for headline writers and Apple execs alike.

The current generation Apple A5 SoC debuted last spring with iPad 2 and is expected to hit iPhone 5, iPod touch 5, and perhaps an upgraded Apple TV this fall. That would put the timeline for an Apple A6 at spring 2012 if Apple holds to pattern.

[Digitimes via Ars]

The interwebs are once again lit up with speculation about the iPad‘s new Apple A4 chipset, this time because Ars Technica is saying that instead of the next-generation multicore ARM Cortex A9 unveiled at CES 2010, the iPad is using a variation of the last-generation AR Cortex A8 that powers the 2009 iPhone 3GS.

This is based on 1) Apple being secretive about the chipset and not bragging like other companies would 2) “multiple sources who are certain for different reasons that this is indeed the case.”

First things first. Apple being secretive proves nothing. Apple is secretive about everything, and they’ve said before they don’t discuss chipsets because they don’t think it matters to consumer electronics users (and, hey, Apple is secretive). They didn’t talk at all about the iPhone 3GS chipset — all they said is it was twice as fast. We only know that it uses an ARM Cortex A8 because people bought it and tore it apart to find out.

As to the multiple sources, if one of the “different reasons” is direct knowledge of the chipset, then they could be exactly right. If not, then… eh, maybe, but we’re back to waiting for the iPad to ship and people to tear it down.

In the interest of being complete, however, Ars speculates that if the iPad is indeed running the Cortex A8, this might be what’s making it so fast:

it turns out that the the A4 is a 1GHz custom SoC with a single Cortex A8 core and a PowerVR SGX GPU. The fact that A4 uses a single A8 core hasn’t been made public, but I’ve heard from multiple sources who are certain for different reasons that this is indeed the case. (I wish I could be more specific, but I can’t.)

In all, the A4 is quite comparable to the other Cortex A8-based SoCs that are coming onto the market, except that the A4 has even less hardware. The iPad doesn’t have much in the way of I/O, so the A4 itself can do away with the I/O that it doesn’t need. In contrast, the typical Cortex A8-based SoC has more I/O hardware than a mobile phone can use, because you never know what customers will need which interface types.

Ars, like Venture Beat, also thinks Apple’s PA Semi team may not be involved in the iPad because they’re working on a variant for the 4th generation iPhone. Either way, they believe software will ultimately be more important than hardware — which is something Apple’s been saying for a while now.

So, do we care if the iPad has an ARM Cortex A8 rather than a Cortex A9? Do we want Apple pushing the hardware, or are we happy with them prioritizing software?

The iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad has officially outed the PowerVR SGX as the graphics core inside Apple’s A4 chipset:

Using OpenGL ES on iPad is identical to using OpenGL ES on other iPhone OS devices. An iPad is a PowerVR SGX device and supports the same basic capabilities as other SGX devices. However, because the processor, memory architecture, and screen dimensions are different for iPad, you should always test your code on an iPad device before shipping to ensure performance meets your requirements.

Since Apple is a major stakeholder in PowerVR creator, Imagination, this was widely assumed, Bright Side of the News had suggested otherwise.

Whether or not it’s the same PowerVR SGX in the current iPhone 3GS, or the latest generation announced back in January at CES remains unknown. We’re hoping for the latter, of course, and that the 4th generation iPhone gets it as well…

[Via MacRumors -- Happy 10th anniversary from everyone at TiPb!]

We typically don’t run those stories about iPhone or iPad component costs anymore because they’re just silly — a couple of hundred dollars in metal parts per unit never takes into account R&D and marketing costs, and things like paying $1 billion for the new A4 chipset in the iPad. Or so hints the New York Times:

At the same time, Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm are designing their own takes on ARM-based mobile chips that will be made by the contract foundries. Even without the direct investment of a factory, it can cost these companies about $1 billion to create a smartphone chip from scratch.

And this would be for an ARM + PowerVR chipset assembly, how much will it cost when Apple starts spinning their own PA Semi designed chipsets whole? And what’s the competitive advantage that they’re willing to spend so much?

Imagination, which counts Apple as one of its owners, has provided the GPU (graphics processing unit) for every iPhone to date, including the current iPhone 3GS PowerVR SGX, so it’s not unreasonable to assume the latest, greatest PowerVR SGX545 introduced at CES will be in the 4th generation iPhone, likely to be announced in June/July (and the iPod touch to follow):

SGX545 will also deliver OpenGL ES 2.x and OpenGL 3.2 to deliver class leading 3D graphics performance, and will also support OpenCL 1.0 full profile capability which will enable mobile and embedded applications to take maximum advantage of the capabilities offered by these GPU APIs for both 3D graphics and general purpose applications.

Could we see this spun into a new, ARM Cortex A9 multi-core cpu by Apple’s own PA Semi? We’ve already got great 3D gaming, what’s this one designed to do, burn our eyeballs into the back of our Avatar-scorched skulls?

[Imagination via 9to5mac]

ARM is showing off their new Cortex A9 multi-core mobile processor, which will scale over 2Ghz at less than 0.25W of power per proc — and since Apple is rumored to be a massive ARM licensee and Apple staff were hinting that developers should prepare themselves for multi-core, rumors once again resurface that this smoking hot chip might become part of the 4th generation iPhone and iPod touch. (As part of PA Semi system-on-a-chip, ‘natch).

The current iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3, as well as a bunch of competing smartphones (and superphones, don’t get us started!) use the ARM Cortex A8. MacRumors is guessing it might just make its way into the iTablet/iSlate as well.

CES is ramping up folks, and remember TiPb will be there, so we’ll bring you back anything more we can find out.

Video highlights after the break…

Macworld is reporting that while the iPhone 3GS chipset does indeed support the new (for North America!) HSPDA download speed of 7.2 Mbps, Apple didn’t see fit to equip it with the matching HSUPA upload speed of 1.4/1.9 Mbps. Indeed, they claim the iPhone 3GS will top out its uploads (sending videos to YouTube, emailing photos, etc.) at a comparatively anemic 384 Kbps.

Perhaps not a big deal in North America where, as noted, the GSM networks are still building out their speed. (Hold your laughter, CDMA, your upload speed is faster but it’s not like you’ve flipped the switch to Rev B yet either — you all have your hidden shames!).

In Europe, however, where HSPA networks are as mature as their coffee is good, well… they’re going to suffer senselessly slower upload speeds.

We’ve asked you in the past how fast your downloads were, now let us know how your uploads are doing, and how much HSUPA — or the lack thereof — matters to you.

Following up on the recent series of domino-like chipset stories, wherein Apple bought PA Semi CPU design firm, licensed ARM CPU architecture and PowerVR GPU architecture, Hired Papermaster from IBM and Drebin and Koduri from AMD/ATI, and have reportedly picked up over 100 chip designers from Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm, and other hardware companies.

Steve Jobs previously confirmed that PA Semi would be used to create system-on-chip components for future iPhones and iPods, but questions remain as to what exactly the master plan is behind these moves (unless Jobs just wants the world’s best gaming mod in his basement, of course…)

The Wall Street Journal, however, thinks it maybe less about the specifics of the hardware — though low-power, energy efficiency is still a major goal — and more about the control of it:

People familiar with the situation say Mr. Jobs told P.A. Semi engineers last April that he wanted to develop chips internally and didn’t want knowledge about the technology to leave Apple.

These new chips, containing technology that couldn’t be easily be shared with competitors or exposed to the rumor-mill, aren’t likely to appear for at least a year still, but shows how Apple’s strong position — including the success of the iPhone — give them the luxury of expanding in this way, in this market.

Apple is, after all, known for their Kremlin-eque love of secrecy, and recent supplier and manufacturer leaks of new iPod and iPhone components can’t have made Cupertino happy.

And of course, it could be the iPhone is still just the tip of the iceberg. When do we get our iPad that wireless connects to big screen TVs to become awesome multi-touch controllers for HD movies and games?