Apple Processors Power iDevices
This past week, Apple introduced iPad 2, and it’s twice as fast with 9 times the graphics processing capabilities while maintaining 10 hours of battery life. If you look at the iPad’s tech specs page, you’ll notice that it’s powered by a 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip.
This is an upgrade from the current iPad’s A4, a single-core system-on-a-chip introduced last year that also powers the iPhone 4 and the 4th generation iPod touch. The A4 and A5 are systems-on-a-chip that pair an ARM CPU with a PowerVX GPU, a mobile architecture that consumes much less power than x86 processors from Intel that Apple implements in their Macs.
Apple has been using ARM CPU architecture for its power efficiency since its original iPod with processors clocking in at 90 MHz. When Apple introduced the original iPhone in 2007 it featured a 412 MHz Samsung ARM processor. As an integral part of the iPhone, iPod, and eventually the iPad, ARM processor architecture would be an integral part of Apple’s business strategy.
In 2008, Apple acquired a fabless semiconductor company by the name of P.A. Semi. In 2010, Apple acquired another fabless semiconductor company by the name of Intrinsity. Neither of these companies actually manufacture chips (Samsung has been providing the processors for Apple since the original iPhone and iPod touch in 2007), but since the A4, Apple has been able to leverage their engineering to control the future of its devices. Without Apple’s ARM-based acquisitions, working closely with Apple’s existing hardware and software engineers, Apple’s iPhones, iPods, and iPads would not have the battery life, the multi-touch responsiveness, or the graphics performance they currently (and will) have. They would thus not have the market share, the revenue, the hundreds of thousands of apps, and of course, the customers that they now have.