Inside the New iPhone 3G S Processors: More than Just Mhz

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

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:

Anandtech iPhone vs. iPhone 3G S CPU

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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:

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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!]

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

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.

13 Comments
  • This aspect of the iPhone 3G S has been way too overlooked. All the naysayers keep drilling the same old point of "oh it's only has a better camera, video recording and a compass LOLZ". I can't wait to see when reviewers get their hands on it and see how much of a screamer the 3G S is. It's going to launch Apps so fast that it feels like a multitasking experience. Not only that but it's going to bring a whole new generation of Apps which will further increase Apple's lead of lightyears ahead of other platforms.
    Can't wait!
  • wow this is amazing... i can't wait till friday!!! WOOHOOO! =D
  • This is getting me more excited about rev.4 iPhone!! If this is what they are doing for 3GS, imagine next summer!! Hopefully new look and faster speeds!!
  • @MRidgeway: Nah, just a flash LED (which everyone thinks will be Adobe Flash). :)
  • But will it work as a phone. My 3G is pretty pathetic as a phone. Could be the network except my "other" 3G phone, same network, is stellar.
  • So excited about the increase in processor and gpu capability... reminds me of when I first overclocked a 300A celeron to 450mhz or the jump to Hardware T&L on video cards or the jump to shaders. Cool deal.
  • To be fair to Palm fanboys, the article did say the Pre hardware is faster than the 3GS, and that "excess" horsepower is used for multitasking.
  • hi im wondering if anyone has figured out how to unlock the iphone 3g s yet cause me and my buddy has a small local phone thing we have going and all the people come to us to unlock and jail break so can some one help
  • @Michael ....... do the research man, but to answer your question for you. It's not available yet, there is no jailbreak for the 3Gs, why? it's not even out yet.... Even when it does come out, it will take awhile for them to jailbreak it, even if they can.
  • those new specs look pretty nice
  • @iphonemilk yeah thats true but have you heard of the dev team their the masters of finding out how to unlock and jailbreaking iphones. and theres plenty of smart kids out there that are working on it for the 3.0 software thats on the 3g s ive seen adds for unlocking it but their fake so i mean some1 must be close to finding it out
  • good news guys i think the dev team is coming up with the unlocking and jailbreaking of the 3gs ;]
  • DEV TEAM has done it! Record time too. You guys ROCK!