So, where does the Apple iPhone 3G S get its claimed "2x faster" leap in speed? Rumors are rampant that Apple is using a new chip to crank up the performance.
Why rumors when Apple has already announced the iPhone 3G S? Apple doesn't disclose chip-level hardware specifications. Moreover, Apple clearly wants to convince any prospective buyer than it's not the iPhone's individual parts that matter but the Apple-branded whole.
Apple claims a speed jump up to two times faster than the previous iPhone: a lot of that may be due to the new processor.(Credit: Apple)
The fact is no one will know for sure until teardown specialists like iFixit and iSuppli actually disassemble the iPhone 3G S. "Until we actually decap those chips, we won't know exactly which chip it is," according to Francis Sideco, senior analyst for wireless communications at iSuppli.
Kyle Wiens, one of the founders of iFixit, said Wednesday he is flying to Europe to get his hands on the iPhone 3G S and take it apart.
So, what does Apple claim exactly? Here's the Apple ad copy on its Web site. "The Fastest iPhone Ever. The first thing you'll notice about iPhone 3G S is how quickly you can launch applications. Web pages render in a fraction of the time, and you can view e-mail attachments faster. Improved performance and updated 3D graphics deliver an incredible gaming experience, too. In fact, everything you do on iPhone 3G S is up to two times faster and more responsive than iPhone 3G."
Technology Web site Anandtech claimed Wednesday that it knows what the chip is. "Although unannounced, the iPhone 3GS uses (again) a Samsung (system-on-a-chip) but this time...it's got a Cortex A8 and PowerVR SGX; just like the (Palm) Pre," according to an analysis published Wednesday at Anandtech by Anand Shimpi, editor in chief .
Most smartphones today--including the previous versions of the iPhone--are based on some version of an application processor design from U.K.-based ARM. The Cortex A8 is a newer, faster version of the ARM design.
A T-Mobile Netherlands' Web page has published features that specify "256 RAM" and "600 MHz-processor." The link is cited in a report published Wednesday by AppleInsider.
"My gut tells me the Cortex A8 is very possible," said IFixit's Wiens, responding to an e-mail query. Though he emphasized that he is simply guessing. iSuppli's Sideco said that the 600MHz speed cited on the T-Mobile Web site doesn't necessarily mean that Apple is using the latest and greatest ARM design. "I wouldn't necessarily make that connection," he said, adding that there are 600MHz ARM processors available based on older designs.
That said, if the Anandtech report is true, this means the iPhone 3G S's application processor--essentially the brain of a smartphone--is similar to the processor used in the Palm Pre. The Texas Instruments' chip in the Pre is also a Cortex-A8 design core from ARM.
Here's what ARM says. The Cortex-A8 processor "is the highest performance, most power-efficient processor available from ARM. With the ability to scale in speed from 600MHz to greater than 1GHz." And using argot probably lost on many readers, it is an in-order, dual-issue, superscalar microprocessor core. Over-simplified translation: it can do more than one thing at a time.
These specifications compare favorably to the processor used in the previous iPhone: an older-generation ARM chip running at 412MHz.
The Palm Pre chip also integrates a Powervr SGX 2D/3D graphics accelerator based on a design from Imagination Technologies. The Anandtech report claims that the iPhone 3G S also uses this graphics silicon.
One of the big mysteries is how much tweaking Apple does to the basic ARM chip design. In one respect, this question is answered very visibly since Apple stamps its brand on the iPhone processor. And for future iPhones, Apple is expected to tap proprietary technology from the recently acquired P.A. Semi. "With their acquisition of PA Semi, the apps (application) processor is the most likely slot to get internalized," according to Sideco, referring to the likelihood that Apple will focus in-house development on the main processor inside the iPhone.
Marion Morales, vice president of IDC's semiconductors research program, said last month in a phone interview that though Apple uses Samsung chips, "when you look at the processor itself, they're designing the processor and using Samsung as a foundry (factory)," he said, underscoring the fact that Apple emphasizes internally developed technology and de-emphasizes external suppliers, even large companies like Intel and Samsung.
Originally posted at Nanotech - The Circuits Blog
article by:
Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
6.26.2009
Peeking Under the Hood of the iPhone 3G S
By now, we know that the “S” in the name of the new iPhone stands for speed.
But what exactly does that mean?
Aaron Vronko, co-founder of Rapid Repair, an online repair shop for portable electronics based in Kalamazoo, Mich., flew to Paris to find out. Mr. Vronko scooped up the iPhone 3G S shortly after it was released there and took the device to a nearby shop to take it apart.
“The construction of it is almost exactly the same as the iPhone 3G, so it feels the same in your hands,” he said. “But more than half of the actual components inside the phone have been tweaked or changed.”
Most notable, he said, was the upgrade of the main processor. Both the original iPhone 2G and the 3G used a design with a 412-megahertz central processing unit. But the iPhone 3G S is outfitted with an amped-up processor running at 600 megahertz. That and other upgrades allow the phone to work twice as fast as previous models. Applications that normally take 10 or 12 seconds to open on older phones were up and running in half the time.
Another big hardware improvement, Mr. Vronko said, is the system memory (not to be confused with the storage space for things like music files). The 3G S was upgraded from 128 megabytes to 256 megabytes, which allows the phone to manage more of everything at the same time. Previously, larger Web pages could crash the system, but with the additional memory space, those can be handled without a problem, he said.
Mr. Vronko pointed out that with the beefed-up processor and bigger memory, the iPhone 3G S rivaled the new handset developed by Palm, the Pre.
“The main processor and system memory are completely equivalent to what’s in the Palm Pre, which allows for multitasking in a robust environment,” Mr. Vronko said. “This could also potentially open the door for true multitasking on the iPhone.”
For now, Apple allows iPhone owners to have only one application open at a time. But if the company were ever to relent on that restriction and allow multiple applications to run simultaneously, the iPhone 3G S’s new hardware should be able to keep up.
Perhaps more significantly, Mr. Vronko said, was what the juiced-up capabilities would enable developers of games and other applications to do with the device.
“Right now, Apple has only added a small list of new things that you can do on the 3G S,” he said. “But the capabilities are there to do much more.”
For example, the iPhone 3G S now integrates a PowerVR SGX graphics chip that can handle 3-D rendering, opening the doors to much more complex games design, Mr. Vronko said.
But these new capabilities could potentially cause Apple to run into difficulties down the line, he said. The different generations of the iPhone and iPod Touch, equipped with varying processor speeds, mean that applications could run unevenly across the various devices. Or iPhone 3G S users might have access to a different catalog of applications than owners of the iPhone 3G or iPod Touch.
“Right now, Apple wants their developers to make apps compatible across the various processors,” Mr. Vronko said. “Developers are going to want to push the limits of the device.”
If some apps only work on some phones, that could threaten the simplicity that is an important part of the iPhone’s success, he said.
By Jenna Wortham
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/peeking-under-the-hood-of-the-iphone-3g-s/?apage=2
But what exactly does that mean?
Aaron Vronko, co-founder of Rapid Repair, an online repair shop for portable electronics based in Kalamazoo, Mich., flew to Paris to find out. Mr. Vronko scooped up the iPhone 3G S shortly after it was released there and took the device to a nearby shop to take it apart.
“The construction of it is almost exactly the same as the iPhone 3G, so it feels the same in your hands,” he said. “But more than half of the actual components inside the phone have been tweaked or changed.”
Most notable, he said, was the upgrade of the main processor. Both the original iPhone 2G and the 3G used a design with a 412-megahertz central processing unit. But the iPhone 3G S is outfitted with an amped-up processor running at 600 megahertz. That and other upgrades allow the phone to work twice as fast as previous models. Applications that normally take 10 or 12 seconds to open on older phones were up and running in half the time.
Another big hardware improvement, Mr. Vronko said, is the system memory (not to be confused with the storage space for things like music files). The 3G S was upgraded from 128 megabytes to 256 megabytes, which allows the phone to manage more of everything at the same time. Previously, larger Web pages could crash the system, but with the additional memory space, those can be handled without a problem, he said.
Mr. Vronko pointed out that with the beefed-up processor and bigger memory, the iPhone 3G S rivaled the new handset developed by Palm, the Pre.
“The main processor and system memory are completely equivalent to what’s in the Palm Pre, which allows for multitasking in a robust environment,” Mr. Vronko said. “This could also potentially open the door for true multitasking on the iPhone.”
For now, Apple allows iPhone owners to have only one application open at a time. But if the company were ever to relent on that restriction and allow multiple applications to run simultaneously, the iPhone 3G S’s new hardware should be able to keep up.
Perhaps more significantly, Mr. Vronko said, was what the juiced-up capabilities would enable developers of games and other applications to do with the device.
“Right now, Apple has only added a small list of new things that you can do on the 3G S,” he said. “But the capabilities are there to do much more.”
For example, the iPhone 3G S now integrates a PowerVR SGX graphics chip that can handle 3-D rendering, opening the doors to much more complex games design, Mr. Vronko said.
But these new capabilities could potentially cause Apple to run into difficulties down the line, he said. The different generations of the iPhone and iPod Touch, equipped with varying processor speeds, mean that applications could run unevenly across the various devices. Or iPhone 3G S users might have access to a different catalog of applications than owners of the iPhone 3G or iPod Touch.
“Right now, Apple wants their developers to make apps compatible across the various processors,” Mr. Vronko said. “Developers are going to want to push the limits of the device.”
If some apps only work on some phones, that could threaten the simplicity that is an important part of the iPhone’s success, he said.
By Jenna Wortham
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/peeking-under-the-hood-of-the-iphone-3g-s/?apage=2
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