During ARM's Q3 financial results announced today, 9to5Mac noticed this little gem:
including a license for ARM’s 2GHz implementation of a dual core Cortex-A9 processor.
We've heard about the Cortex A9 before. Purportedly, is 5x faster than an intel Atom, yet uses the same amount of power in a 60% smaller packager.
Could this be for next year's iPhone? For a mythical (maybe even second generation) iTablet? We don't know, but 9to5mac speculates:
Apple is rumored to be an ARM licensee and that that they've reportedly split the PA Semi group up into two parts. One working on Smartphone chips the other working on tablet processors. It is now generally accepted that the Apple tablet will run a ARM Cortex processor. It will likely want a bit more horsepower than the ARM Cortex A8-class Samsung chip inside the iPhone 3GS.
Whether or not it's Apple, the PA Semi group is working on something, even if it won't be until next year that we get to see it. Anyone else care to speculate?
Reader comments
Could 2GHz ARM Cortex A9 Chip be Future iPhone/iTablet Bound?
That would be great! 2GHz iPhone!!!
Say goodbye to battery life!
I already said goodbye and bought another charger instead..lol
This would be great. The iPhone needs significant upgrading in the era of the SOTA Android phones.
At this point in time, I don't even care about the tablet. I know I won't be able to afford it. But a 2Ghz iPhone? That would be gnarly.
If they add this, plus jump up to all other high end phones with 800x480 screens (AMOLED/OLED screen is optional) and add a few inches, I'd be highly jealous of iPhone users for once.
But I still couldn't get it with the lack of complete control. Yeah I could jailbreak, but I like my warranty and such intact =[
there are same wrong information here... the atom takes 2 to 4 watts of power... the anouced cortex a9 with 40nm takes 0,25 watts per processor.
GlobalFoundries is working an a9 with 28nm with can make the a9 go up to 2,5-3 ghz.
So We can expect the Itablet battery with a dual core a9 to last 10-24 hours of usage.
I think the Itablet will came early next year with a dual core a9 with 1,4 ghz
Holy crap that's fast
Well as Apple bought Fingemagic in 2005 then in 2007 we got the iPhone, I mean Apple only took two years to develope on the new technology they just bought. Could this also be true with PA Semi?? Could Apple deliver a new kind of processor for the iPhone and the upcoming iPad?
I doubt that chip will make it into the iPhone any time soon. Let's see, we have 2007 iPhone with 400 MHz processor, 2008 iPhone with the same processor, 2009 iPhone with 600 MHz processor, and you think the 2010 iPhone will come with a dual-Core 2 GHz processor? If we're lucky, they'll bump it to 800 MHz (far outside chance of 1 GHz) and if we're unlucky they'll continue using the same 600 MHz processor next year as well and leave the processor bump for the 2011 iPhone. I bet that processor is headed for the tablet if it's headed for any Apple product at all (not a given). And I wouldn't be surprised if it's underclocked when it arrives for better battery life (e.g. iPhone 3GS's chip is capable of 833 MHz but is underclocked to 600 MHz).
The 2 ghz A9 processor is based on a 28nm processes in construction and well quality control on a chip like that will would mean temp control because of the temperature swings that a phone must endure would surely break a few of the internals on the chip. Apple isn't so dumb that they would sacrifice a quality control issue for speed of the processor.
my bet is that they will go with the a9 dual core, 40nm process, and a 700 mhz (for some reason 728mhz is what I have in mind) clock speed for the chip and put pa semi in-charge of variable clock speeds boosting in to 1.0-1.2 ghz under heavy load.
With multiple cores and that clock speed the phone would step-out of the PDA plus cell chip, and into some serious micro computing capable of running some of the more advanced applications that developers have to offer, and not to mention more connectivity through accessories. (Chad your wonderful idea to slip a phone into a larger screen idea on a few podcasts ago. double note what if light peak was used to connect two different processor cores together and combined their computing?)
I don't know. I mean the snapdragon is already showing up in phones. That's at 1ghz. I don't know about 2 but I could realistically see the 2ghz chip but underclocked unless they have some new battery technology. But then again if they bump the screen size to 4.3. They would have more room for a larger battery. Then the screen going OLED. Would save alot of power. It might just happen. Apple wants to stay ontop of the smartphone market. They need to offer the fastest processor.
@Gregg- while I would love a superfast processor in my iPhone, what makes you think Apple needs to offer the fastest processor? The first 3 generations of iPhones certainly haven't offered the fastest processor available (not even the 3GS)- I don't see why they would deviate now.
Not so much the fastest I guess but more like keeping up. We should at least see the 1Ghz thus time around.
I think the Snapdragon possessor has a few too many voltage leaks and it also has a problem with its temp control. I see the phones overheating and being what we call slow after a couple of months of heavy use. As fast as it is the Os is going to have to control all of those issues within the programs and applications that it can run. The A9 is much more stable.
I'm worrying now as an iPhone user that I've put alot of investment into apps and iTunes, and that the next iPhone will be a first gen to 3G style update from the 3Gs. HTC seem to be offering meatier and prettier phones and Google are sorting the Marketplace and GPS with Eclair, and my pocket is way too small for a tablet. Please Apple don't just rely on the Appstore and bring some more cutting edge design and specs to the table.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon is now old technology that was developed in 2003-2007 timeframe; it has just taken them a long time to get it right and get it into the market, and only in limited number of devices. Don't get caught up on GHz claims. You have to have a memory architecture that allows it to use all these cycles; at 1 GHz, this core will stall about 50% of the time with today's memories! Most people don't understand this reality, and it can vary widely from processor to processor, even if they are the same core (Cortex-A8 for example). Also, QCOM graphics and video are not up to par with their notoriously bad software. Ask people that really know these devices and have written software for them. They are great at modems and marketing specs, but the reality is that they are not best-in-class in application processors. TI and NVIDIA blow them away.
Oh, and by the way, Apple is not the one using the 2 GHz Cortex-A9 cores!
Watching the market, I noticed that apple is improving quite a bit. So, I do not see why apple would not spend a few extra pennies to improve their image.
Plus, Microsoft is trying to get back in "the game". Therefor, apple needs to step it up a knotch to show their current and potential customers that they still run the show.
I don't believe that an A9 will run at 2Ghz in TSMC 40G technology. TSMC is having significant problems with there 40G technology that stem from poor device design. You either get the performance will very high leakage, or you stem the leakage at the expense of a 30% shortfall in performance. This is one time that I think Apple made a strategic error in there fab partner.
P.A. Semi bought by apple
ARM licensed the processor design to apple
Apple did not spend 458 million for pa semi to build power cpus
The Cortex A9 family supports up to four cores running at 2 Ghz
Dual Core is feasible on this time line using 28 nm tech @ .025 watt per core under load
Intel can fab these they have the arm license too...