Imagination Technologies, makers of the POWERVR GPUs that power iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, has announced that 6 new partners, including 3 unnamed — and presumably including Apple — have licensed their upcoming next generation POWERVR Series 6.

The POWERVR Series6 GPU family, which delivers unrivalled GFLOPS per mm2 and per mW for all APIs, delivers not only a clear technology advantage and exceptional roadmap, driven by one of the largest teams of graphics engineers in the world, but also an extensive ecosystem of third party developers which has created hundreds of thousands of apps optimised for POWERVR enabled devices to date.

The current iPad 2, and likely the iPhone 5 this fall, make use of the POWERVR SGX543MP2 as part of the Apple A5 system-on-a-chip. Apple claimed the A5 had 9x the graphic performance of the previous year’s A4, and lets the iPad do all sorts of wonderful things, like AirPlay mirroring for games the level of Real Racing HD. What an Apple A6 chipset could do with an even more powerful the Series 6 — other than melting a hole in your pocket — could start rivaling the experience, if not raw polygon count, of console games. It could also more than make up for an iPad with a Retina Display…

Now we just have to wait and see if they can be produced in volume in time for Apple’s 2012 release schedule.

[Imagination via MacRumors]

AnandTech has put the iPad’s new Apple A4 chip-to-chip against the Windows Phone- and Google Android Superphone-powering Snapdragon from Qualcomm in a clash of the 1Ghz titans. And the results?

To quote Steve Jobs – boom!

If we take the network out of the equation, the A4 in the iPad has a 37.6% performance advantage over the Qualcomm QSD8250. This actually supports some of the larger performance differences we saw earlier. If Apple can manage to deliver this sort of performance in its smartphone version of the A4, we’re in for a treat.

Indeed! They’re not sure why the difference is what it is, but possible reasons could include iPhone OS being better optimized than Android, or higher IPC based on better core architecture, larger caches, or faster memory bus.

They, like TiPb, want that bad boy in the 4th generation iPhone (which still won’t be called iPhone 4G!). Qualcomm and other chipsets like Tegra won’t sit still, however, so Apple has to keep pushing that bar as well — if they want the cachet that comes with spinning premiere, custom silicon.

[AnandTech via Engaget]

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!]

According to Bright Side of the News, it turns out that newly spun Apple A4 system-on-a-chip that debuted alongside the iPad does indeed pack more punch than the Sammy in the iPhone 3GS:

A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore i.e. Multi-Processing Core, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali 50-Series GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon – not unlike what Intel is trying to achieve with its future “Moorestown” Atom processor that debuted inside LG’s Smartphone

Cortex A9 indeed? But no PowerVR SGX like the iPhone. Engadget says this is also similar to the Tegra2 platform. So, it’s more of an Apple assemblage of ARM components rather than anything PA Semi unique, but is it a first step towards more customized silicon? Either way, we’d still love to see this baby powering the 4th gen iPhone and iPod touch.

Still no word on RAM though…

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…

In typical Apple fashion, they announced the new third generation iPod touch 32GB and 64GB as being 50% faster than the previous generation (the 8GB is the same old bag as last year), with nary a word on what chipsets made it so.

Well, some digging has been done, and some benches have been marked, and the early word is… zoom zoom.

Macworld‘s tests show some impressive gains. Boot went down from 31 to 19 seconds. Launching apps went from 12, 20, and 10 seconds to 7, 15, and 5 for Peggle, HR Battle, and Rolando 2 respectively. Web page rendering for the NYT site was down from 34 to 15 seconds, and the Sunspider JS test went from 34.2 to 15.6 seconds.

So, yeah, about 50%.

TUAW, meanwhile, went to the heart of the matter, and discovered that the new iPod touch shares similar, if slightly incremented internals over this year’s iPhone 3GS. More plainly, same Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor (S5L8922X, however, as opposed to the iPhone 3GS S5L8920X). No word yet on what may be different, if anything about the PowerVR SGX graphic core, but as we heard already, the 802.11n potential is in the WiFi chip.

The second generation iPod touch was faster than the iPhone 3G, so it’s not hard to imagine lack of cell-radio concerns and slightly new components could push the third generation iPod touch across the finish line before the iPhone 3GS as well.

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.

tap tap tap points out something that perhaps should have been obvious from the start regarding the iPhone 3GS‘ 256MB of RAM — that doubling the memory, once the OS loads and programs start eating away at it, often leaves more than double the free space.

The older iPhone models have been often considered underpowered when it comes to RAM, so even though the RAM amount is technically doubled, in actual use, you’ll often be working with 4x to 10x the amount of free RAM. And that’s one major aspect that’s contributing to the overall speedier feel of the 3GS.

As we saw in our video iPhone 3GS vs. iPhone 3G app launch smackdown, this translates directly into keeping Mobile Safari pages loaded, for example, when you exit out, load a large app, and then come back.

Firemint has put up the above video tech demo of their Real Racing game running optimized for an iPhone 3GS and…. wow.

“Since the game uses a high fidelity physics engine, adding cars is a good test for pushing the hardware. We started our tech demo with 8 cars on the track, then 10, 12, 16 and 20, and the 3GS still didn’t break a sweat,” wrote Firemint’s Alexandra Peters. “We finally stopped when we got to 40 cars on the track at the same time, still with no perceptible drop in frame rate. We think the results are mind blowing.”

No plans to release an iPhone 3GS version yet but again, that’s a switch that some developer will no doubt throw at some point.

[Via Macworld via Firemint]

We’ve been talking about the zippiness of the iPhone 3GS — S as in Speed — since it launched, and report after report has confirmed that not only is it fast, it’s faster than we initially thought.

Here’s more of the same. Running OpenGL 1.x like the iPhone 3G (never mind that it can run OpenGL 2.0 which the iPhone 3G can’t), the results are most impressive:

• The CPU performance is Faster by 40-70%
• The fillrate* is 3x to 4x higher
• Texture effects and filters are about 10x faster

These are probably better indicators for now, since game developers likely won’t abandon the 40 million previous generation users (and their money) any time soon. Does make you wonder when it will happen, though, and what the games — and other apps — will eventually look like.

[via Gizmodo via glbenchmark via Extremetech viaUbergizmo -- phew!]

MacRumors is reporting that Apple’s new iPhone 3GS, while indeed using Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR graphics core, may just have a little more under the hood than previously thought:

iPhone developers, however, have discovered that the iPhone 3GS has extension files named “IMGSGX535GLDriver” suggesting that the new iPhone uses the more powerful graphics processor intended for “high end” mobile devices. This may not be entirely conclusive evidence by itself but it is consistent with a report from a Anandtech commenter who claims to have heard directly from Apple engineers at WWDC that the iPhone 3GS does indeed use the SGX 535.

Zoom. Zoom.

In a related story, Apple has apparently raised their stakes in Imagination Technologies to 9.5% on the heels of Intel’s 16%.

Anandtech gives their usual in-depth look at the processors inside Apple’s new iPhone 3G S. First the CPU, the new ARM Cortex A8 and the short of it is — if the iPhone 2G and 3G were old 486 PCs, the iPhone 3G S would be a Pentium:

As for the GPU, the PowerVR SGX — even if it’s clocked down to half-speed, it’s rendering geometry 3.5x faster with a fill rate 25% higher as well:

Their take away? Well, they say the iPhone 3G S packs a similar hardware punch to the new Palm Pre, but while webOS uses some of that power for 3rd party multitasking, Apple’s “highly optimized software stack” will bring the speed.

And that only scratches the surface. For the gritty details, check out the full article.

[Thanks to Damon for the tip!]

T-Mobile Netherlands (via Wired) has let slip the formerly elusive specs for the iPhone 3G S:

• 256MB of RAM
• 600Mhz CPU

Anandtech (via Macrumors) gives further info:

Although unannounced, the iPhone 3GS uses (again) a Samsung SoC but this time instead of the ARM11 + MBX-Lite combo it’s got a Cortex A8 and PowerVR SGX; just like the [Palm] Pre.

So add that to the fast PowerVR SGX graphics core, and — to quote Steve Jobs — it’s a screamer!

Update: Apple Insider has a great run down of the technology inside the chipsets.

Apple Insider reveals that:

Sources have now reported that Apple has detailed that Imagination’s PowerVR SGX is indeed the graphics processor used in the iPhone 3G S, and that it is “designed for OpenGL ES 2.0.” The new 2.0 specification of OpenGL for Embedded Systems eliminates most of the fixed-function rendering pipeline for a programmable approach to 3D rendering using shader programs.

So while we’re not yet getting that PA Semi + multicore ARM/PowerVT + OpenCL + Papermaker + ATI gurus system on a chip we’ve been fantasizing about this year… we’re still getting a clear focus on speed from Apple. And that’s a Good Thing.

Oh, and yeah, that’s totally the Kingdom Come Flash trouncing his golden age and silver age counterparts in the graphic above. /geek.

MacRumors has come across an Apple job listing for someone with:

excellent understanding and knowledge of processor architecture, specifically ARM and its vector unit NEON. Additional Intel SSE or PowerPC AltiVec is also very helpful. Being able to use processor micro-architecture to write and deliver fast routines is an essential attribute.

Neon, they remind us, is the brand name for the ARMv7 Cortex, the next-generation of the processor Apple uses in the current iPhone and iPod touch.

What’s not yet clear is whether Apple will tap the multi-core potential of the ARMv7 Cortex to really shift multimedia performance into the mobile stratosphere. However, another tantalizing glimpse into the iPhone’s potential future is revealed in a second job listing, this one for an engineer with:

Experience developing embedded image and video processing solutions. Experience developing embedded image and video analysis solutions. Experience working on real-time media and networking applications (WiFi and cellular networks).

Of course, we won’t keep our fingers crossed too hard for those iTunes Replay, personalized podcast streaming, or remote DVR access patents Apple has teases us with in the past…

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?

Something seriously smoking be going on round Apple way if the latest story from The Inquirer (via MacRumors) is to be believed:

We’ve just heard from sources deep inside 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California that [Raja Koduri, AMD/ATI Chief Technology Officer, Graphics Product Group] is heading there.

So for those keeping score at home, this adds to:

• PA Semi lower-power PPC chipset designer: bought
• ARM cpu: licensed
• PowerVR GPU graphics core: licensed
• Mark Papermaster, IBM chip guru: hired
• Bob Drebin, AMD/ATI graphics guru: hired

Steve Jobs has said Apple is working on their own systems-on-chip for future iPhones and iPod touches. Looks like that work has got some serious hardware, and talent behind it.

Our only question is, what’s going to melt the universe first, the Hadron Collider, or whatever Apple’s got cooking up in their basement?

We’ve heard before that, among other things, iPhone OS 3.0 would support quad-core processors. Of course, we haven’t seen these processors yet, but now ST-Ericsson and ARM have announced they’ll be giving a private sneak peak at one at Mobile World Congress. (Via MacRumors):

The technological breakthrough is the first of its kind and is based on the ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A9 multicore processor, which represents a significant leap from previous generations of baseband/application processor architectures by providing unprecedented levels of performance and power efficiency.

Combined with previous rumors of OpenCL support allowing the faster, betterPowerVR graphics cores to boost general processing as well, and 802.11n mobile WiFi chips future iPhone generations could be, as Steve Jobs is so fond of putting it, real screamers.

Better hardware (especially more RAM) could, of course, encourage Apple to allow more 3rd party multi-tasking. Maybe even make the leap to iPhone HD? (In a matt black finish?!)

We’ve made no bones about it, TiPb wants us some iPhone HD this June! Looks like the stars are aligning closer and closer to give it to us as well, what with faster 802.11n mobile WiFi chips, and rumors of quad-core cpu’s for iPhone 3.0. Now that OpenCL supporting PowerVR graphics core boost might be on the way as well. Says Apple Insider:

Imagination Technologies has quietly slipped out word this week of a new mobile chip known as the PowerVR SGX543. [...] In practice, the technology is powerful enough to push 35 million polygons per second and 1 billion pixels per second and can thus easily drive HD resolution video output, including when 3D is involved.

HD aside, any gamers looking forward to that kind of quad-core, super graphical powered fun?

The iPhone can play 3D games and pump out high quality video like almost no other handset on the market, but when you’re not gaming or watching video, when you’re just using apps or doing old-school computing, all that power goes to waste, right?

Well, maybe not for much longer.

PowerVR from Imagination is the graphics and video processor core inside the iPhone (and other mobile devices), and we mentioned earlier in the week that it’s now confirmed Apple is a mega-licensee of the technology moving forward.

Now Apple Insider reports that Imagination is looking for OpenCL engineers.

While OpenGL is the open source competitor to Microsoft’s proprietary DirectX graphics technology (the stuff that drives all those 3D games), OpenCL (Wikipedia link) has recently been open sourced by Apple for leveraging that power for mainstream computing tasks. And Imagination integrating OpenCL means Apple’s desktop OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard might not be their only OS to benefit…

Hello GPU accelerated general iPhone processing! Hopefully this means regular old applications, from data bases to web code processing will soon be snappier, and more powerful.

Um… now please?

Way back on Sept. 7 we linked to an item that conjectured Apple might be the secret licensee of PowerVR technology. Well, the conjecture is now confirmed according to MacRumors:

Apple is “subscribing for” 8,200,000 new shares of Imagination Technologies Group which means Apple will have an ownership interest of 3.6% in the company. The press release also reveals that Apple is a licensee of Imagination’s technology.

What does this mean for the iPhone? That Apple is likely Spinning Custom “PA Semi” ARM Chipset for Next Gen iPhone!