If history is any indication, we can expect Apple to use the iPhone 5 processor in their devices for at least a couple of years. Apple’s previous A5 processor was used in the iPad 2 and then also used in their iPhone 4S, Apple TV, and the iPod Touch. Apple of course has not released any details on their new processor other than the claim that it provides twice the processor performance and twice the graphics performance of the A5X used in the iPhone 4S.
Given the improved battery life and decreased size of the iPhone 5, we can deduce that the processor is smaller, likely built on the same 32nm process used in the iPad2 and Apple TV but possibly built on a reduced 28nm process. Prior to this, Apple manufactured their chips on a 45nm process. The much smaller chip size would naturally result in a more efficient and effective processor which would confirm Apple’s performance claims.
The A6 is a dual-core processor, based on a custom ARMv7 based CPU core. It is clocked higher than the 800MHz A5 processor in the iPhone 4S, at a 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz clock frequency. Increased clock frequency eats batteries up so Apple has tried to set the clock speed as low as possible given their targeted performance requirements. Similarly, the Apple A5 graphics processor is reported to use the dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 video processor, so the A6 could use the quad-core video processor version, the PowerVR SGX543MP4.
If the processor is indeed the Samsung chip, we can expect Apple to move to Samsung’s 20nm process in the second half of 2013 giving Apple owners even better performance and battery life.
