Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, iPhone
Does Imagination license spell HD-out for future iPhones?
Over at Ars Technica, Chris Foreman dives into yesterday's story that Imagination Technologies Group, developer of the PowerVR chip for mobile device displays, has a licensing agreement with Apple for its chip designs (long suspected by AppleInsider but only just confirmed) and that Apple has picked up a chunk of ITG stock; cnet puts it at $5 million worth for a 3.6% stake. The 'smoking gun' press release from Imagination that was linked yesterday has mysteriously disappeared from the company's press page, which does lead one to wonder if the news wasn't quite ready for prime time -- but the speculation about what future iPhones might be capable of in the video-out department is still quite enticing. (You can see the Google-cached version of the PR blurb here.)Foreman notes that the ITG chip designs Apple might use (the PowerVR SGX and VXD) would provide a dramatic boost to 3D performance, with Open GL ES 2.0 support, and also allow for HD-quality video out via the dock connector. Adding the playback power of an Apple TV (or better) to a mobile device, while reducing the power consumption required to pull off the trick? Add in a low-power 802.11n chipset for wireless streaming and you've just turned the home theater and set-top box market completely upside down.
If your iPod touch or iPhone could take over all your video playback needs at HD resolutions, would it find a home on your media center shelf? Mine would.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rodan said 12:44PM on 12-19-2008
Ryan, I think I may have seen that image of the iMac compared to a Dell tower. Yeah, I'm sure Apple couldn't do any better than Dell in that regard. Never mind that the Dell appears to have a significant number of off-screen peripherals hooked up to it......and ITS A DELL!
Geez, Apple, I can handle the horrific aesthetic detraction of one extra cable going from my monitor to my tower, and one power cable. Heck, build a power outlet into the tower, and send me some tubing so I can run them together to the tower. Apple, that could be your next big thing: cable tubing in the package with your new mini-tower.
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Justin D said 12:47PM on 12-19-2008
With 720p movie files coming in at roughly 4.2GB for a 105-minute movie? Don't see Apple bothering until they can release a 128GB iPhone.
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Michael Rose said 12:53PM on 12-19-2008
Hence the prospect of HD streaming.
dagamer34 said 4:18PM on 12-19-2008
802.11g can handle streaming HD video for the most part, though it's gonna kill the battery life and make the phone very warm. Likely they'll prevent you from trying this unless it's plugged in.
Rodan said 12:49PM on 12-19-2008
I profusely apologize for posting a comment that has absolutely nothing to do with this story. Bad 1 Password login, have corrected it.
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ksmizz said 12:52PM on 12-19-2008
An iphone spitting out HD juice would make a heck of a lot more sense than having 2 versions of a movie (both SD and HD) having to be downloaded. Imagine that, a pizza in my bagel.
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Justin D said 1:04PM on 12-19-2008
@ Michael Rose
Heh, didn't put 1+1 together. Definitely, with 802.11n streaming, that'd be an interesting prospect.
Past two hotels I've stayed in both had LCD HDTVs and input panels w/ HDMI. Would be slick to stream movies from my home machine to a hotel TV when on the road!
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LD said 1:10PM on 12-19-2008
I'd be all over such a device. If this could replace the AppleTV, plus be portable, that's truly a win-win. That would be an amazing device. the 802.11n streaming is a must for me as I store everything on my Mac Mini "server" at home and not on my AppleTV.
Talk about convergence. Now you are converging your mobile media player and phone (already done with iPhone) with an HD streaming device at home. You could converge a mobile device with a home device. No one has really done anything like that.
But...what happens when you get a phone call in the middle of a movie? :)
Makes more sense for the iPod at least as far as real world use. But I imagine the technology, if made, would be in both devices.
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rTwelve said 1:10PM on 12-19-2008
So what happens when you get a phone call?
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YodaMac said 2:44PM on 12-19-2008
First off, there'd be an option to completely ignore incoming messages of any type for the duration for the duration of the movie.
If you chose to allow those interruptions, then when a phone call (or text/email/etc.) comes in - you can choose to ignore it, or pause the movie and answer it. At which point (in my fantasy) you get a picture-in-picture from their video-phone (we'll all have them by then, you know) and once done talking you can continue your paused movie where you left off.
Sweet. :)
Seamonkeas said 1:16PM on 12-19-2008
An Ipod touch maybe. But not my iphone, text messages and email's are impossible to read when they're connected to the dock sitting above my t.v. I already have qualms about using my laptop to do it...
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AppBeacon said 1:23PM on 12-19-2008
I would have never considered this before. However, last night, Santa came early with a big plasma HDTV strapped to Rudolf's back (poor guy). Now, I'm in the market for an AppleTV. If I knew for sure that something like an HD spewing iPod Touch was on the way, I might hold off on that purchase.
Speaking of that, what is the rumor mill about any new AppleTVs in the next few months?
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Anderson said 2:19PM on 12-19-2008
You might want to wait until MacWorld before you go buying any Apple products. Not that there's a ton of products expected to be updated, but maybe some things.
jthorpe said 4:25PM on 12-19-2008
I've already got my iPhone wired into my entertainment center with the Universal Dock and Component AV cable. Works like a charm...the only thing missing is an on-screen UI like the AppleTV has. And that's a huge missing piece.
Granted, I don't have an HDTV, but I'm pretty sure we can Handbrake HD content that'll play through the iPhone to an HDTV (and, as you say, streaming HD content through an 802.11n iPhone would be awesome).
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Galley said 6:14PM on 12-19-2008
My sister's hair stylist's neighbor's best friend's pet squirrel hinted at this feature coming to the iPhone about a year ago. I don't thnk that crazy rodent new what it was talking about. Instead we got the new A/V cables with the authentification chips in them. Hey, 480p is better than nothing!
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Darwin Smith said 12:00PM on 12-20-2008
I think it says we can expected a redesigned Apple TV than runs much cooler and handles 1080 in the near future.
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Dave said 4:09PM on 12-20-2008
I just don't see much demand for this on a cell phone as it would conflict to much with it primary usage.
On the otherhand on a Touch or similar device this would be great. Honestly though I'm not to sure we will see this capability real soon. To much battery power. Bsides Apple needs to vastly increase Touchs storage capacity.
Dave
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andrew said 9:43AM on 12-20-2008
Wouldn't it make more sense for these capabilities to be put into gaming rather than movie video playback?
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Steve said 11:24AM on 12-20-2008
Erm - the press release is the top entry under 'regulatory statements' on their corporate page:
http://www.imgtec.com/corporate/newsdetail.asp?NewsID=424
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ffresh said 7:28PM on 12-21-2008
I'm still closing my eyes, thinking happy thoughts, and hoping it's at least a year (alright, alright... at least half a year?) until my brand new iPod touch is obsolete.
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