More on Next Gen iPhone PowerVR and OpenCL

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?

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.