Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, iPod touch
What exact processor is inside the new iPod touch? TUAW digs deeper
Sure, the biggest mystery around the new iPod touch is the omission of the heavily-rumored camera, like the one found on the new iPod nano. However, there is some speculation and wondering in what is actually at the heart of the new iPod touch. As you may know, all devices that run iPhone OS are powered by a processor based on the ARM architecture. These processors, like Intel and PowerPC processors, come in many different speeds. As Apple did with the iPhone 3GS, improved performance (including OpenGL ES 2.0 support for better gaming and graphic support) is touted as a feature in the new 32GB/64GB iPod touch models (the 8GB iPod touch retains the same performance as it did last year). It's still unclear what the exact details are for the new processor, but here at TUAW, we've done some digging to find out more information about it.
Read on for more technical details on the processor in the new iPod touch.
If you dig into the .ipsw iPod/iPhone software update bundles that are downloaded when you restore of update your iPhone or iPod touch (which are really zip archives in disguise), you can find a file called restore.plist, which is an XML property list stating the various technical specifications of the iPhone/iPod touch model the .ipsw file is intended for. If you look at the "Platform" string under the DeviceMap array in that property list, you'll find a model number of the processor of the iPod touch/iPhone in question, as shown below.
The first-generation iPhone, first-generation iPod touch and the iPhone 3G are all powered by a Samsung S5L8900X series processor, running at 412 MHz, which has been widely documented. The second-generation iPod touch contains a S5L8720X series processor, which is faster than the processor of the three other models that were introduced before it, running at 532 MHz. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS contains a S5L8920X series processor, which is widely believed to be based on the Samsung S5PC100 series processor, which itself is a member of the ARM Cortex-A8 family. Apple states the 3GS is "up to 2X faster" than then the iPhone 3G; this is a consequence, to a large degree, of the improved performance of the S5L8920X processor, which runs at 600 MHZ.
The newly introduced third-generation iPod touch contains a S5L8922X series processor, which is a slight numerical increment over the processor in the iPhone 3GS. Also, as revealed in the teardown by iFixit, the model number etched on the processor in the new iPod touch, 339S0075 ARM, also shows a slight numerical increment of the 3GS processor, which is 339S0073 ARM.
Meanwhile, the new iPod touch also shows a increase in the model identifier to iPod3,1, up from iPod2,1 on the second-generation iPod touch. An increase in the first digit of the model identifier usually indicates a major architectural change in the device. For example, the model identifier of the iPhone 3G is iPhone1,2, up from iPhone1,1, as both devices use the same S5L8900X processor.
These signs mostly likely point to some sort of small revision in the processor in the new iPod touch over the iPhone 3GS, however, it's still unclear what improvements this processor offers, if any.
Did you happen to pick up or use a new iPod touch? Did it feel any faster than the 3GS to you? Let us know in the comments below and tell us what you've noticed!
The first-generation iPhone, first-generation iPod touch and the iPhone 3G are all powered by a Samsung S5L8900X series processor, running at 412 MHz, which has been widely documented. The second-generation iPod touch contains a S5L8720X series processor, which is faster than the processor of the three other models that were introduced before it, running at 532 MHz. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS contains a S5L8920X series processor, which is widely believed to be based on the Samsung S5PC100 series processor, which itself is a member of the ARM Cortex-A8 family. Apple states the 3GS is "up to 2X faster" than then the iPhone 3G; this is a consequence, to a large degree, of the improved performance of the S5L8920X processor, which runs at 600 MHZ.
The newly introduced third-generation iPod touch contains a S5L8922X series processor, which is a slight numerical increment over the processor in the iPhone 3GS. Also, as revealed in the teardown by iFixit, the model number etched on the processor in the new iPod touch, 339S0075 ARM, also shows a slight numerical increment of the 3GS processor, which is 339S0073 ARM.
Meanwhile, the new iPod touch also shows a increase in the model identifier to iPod3,1, up from iPod2,1 on the second-generation iPod touch. An increase in the first digit of the model identifier usually indicates a major architectural change in the device. For example, the model identifier of the iPhone 3G is iPhone1,2, up from iPhone1,1, as both devices use the same S5L8900X processor.
These signs mostly likely point to some sort of small revision in the processor in the new iPod touch over the iPhone 3GS, however, it's still unclear what improvements this processor offers, if any.
Did you happen to pick up or use a new iPod touch? Did it feel any faster than the 3GS to you? Let us know in the comments below and tell us what you've noticed!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
soxneon said 12:16PM on 9-14-2009
Old news. Nobody does it better than TUAW.
Reply
Joseph said 12:32PM on 9-14-2009
where else could i read a whole article about nothing?
I want my 5 minutes back.
Brandon said 12:30PM on 9-14-2009
So, how fast is the new processor inside the 32gb iPod Touch?
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Joachim Bean said 12:34PM on 9-14-2009
It's most likely running at 600MHz. Apple tends to actually "slow down" the actual speed of the processors, so the exact speed is unknown.
Brandon said 12:37PM on 9-14-2009
So even though it is a (slight) step above the previous (iPhone 3GS) processor, it still runs at the same speed?
Ryan Trevisol said 1:46PM on 9-14-2009
Yes. These companies introduce incremental updates not only to increase speed, but to deliver the same at lower power consumtption. If apple took a 650MHz processor and clocked it back to 600MHz, they'd get the same battery life on a smaller battery (i.e. the iPod Touch battery). It could also be the same processor in a smaller package . . . .
But it also wouldn't surprise me a bit that the processor is a little faster than the 3GS. They did it with the iPod Touch 2G and the iPhone 3G, presumably because the chip was available for the same or cheaper price at the time of manufacture. Same deal with the Draft-N chip in the Touch 3G.
tukan said 12:37PM on 9-14-2009
I am still waiting for some real app tests, but from my limited testing (Apple Store units had no apps installed so Safari loading times only), the new Touch is noticeably faster than the previous generation.
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sayguh said 1:03PM on 9-14-2009
They said the iPhone was 2x faster and didn't they say this new iPod is 1.5x faster?
So.. isn't the new iPod Touch slower than the iPhone?
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Steven said 1:10PM on 9-14-2009
The 3GS is 2x faster than the 3G, and the new iPod Touch is 1.5x faster than the previous iPod Touch, which was faster than the 3G, so they could still be the same speed.
I agree with the others up top though, waste of an article. We learned nothing new from it.
Typical Engadget Tech-Nerd said 1:16PM on 9-14-2009
I do know that the Zune fanboys say the Zune HD will blow the doors off the 3GS and Touch and get twice the battery life. The spec rumor is that the ARM processor is no match for Tegra power and therefore the Zune HD will crush the Touch in sales. I doubt if the Zune HD will affect iPod Touch sales, but many are saying that the Zune HD will definitely make a better gaming machine when it comes to pure pixel throughput.
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Jess said 1:42PM on 9-14-2009
Tegra is no silver bullet. Those ZuneHD fanboys will probably end disappointed.
According to Jon Stockes from Ars Technica, Tegra has an ARM11 CPU: this one was found on 2007/2008 iPhones. The current iPhone 3GS contains a more advanced ARM Cortex A8.
For the record, Tegra also contains an ARM7. It is probably just used for housekeeping tasks within the various media decoding blocks and is pretty weak in raw processing power.
The unknown is the GPU: how will nVidia's mobile GPU fare compared to the iPhone's PowerVR MBX ? We don't know yet.
Jules Stoop said 1:28PM on 9-14-2009
Zune: better architecture, close to zero titles?
I remember the days the Pentium crunching Power PC G3 was the fastest processor around...
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Liberty For ALL! said 1:40PM on 9-14-2009
The big news about the 3rd Gen. Touch is the Wi-Fi N -- big mistake not also including it in the iPhone 3GS! Apple's typical lure to get people to buy more products in the future by simply holding back features (just like they did with the camera in the Touch)!
Apple: Enough Already!
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Nick K. said 3:03PM on 9-14-2009
It has the N chip inside, but it's not active and we can't activate it.
cmsb55 said 3:37PM on 9-14-2009
The touch's processor probably isn't fast enough to handle that much data coming in anyway.
Mitchell Scott said 2:48PM on 9-14-2009
I thought from the title that TUAW actually had an answer...
Reply
Joachim Bean said 3:25PM on 9-14-2009
Here's your answer, the new iPod touch has a Samsung S5L8922X processor.
chris cao said 4:45PM on 9-14-2009
i've compared the ipod touch 3rd gen vs my 3gs and its slightly faster. apps open a split second faster, not a huge difference, but a difference
Reply
csnplt said 3:51PM on 9-14-2009
The new processor runs at a clock speed of 600 MHz, and the iPod touch 3G and the iPhone 3GS have 256 MB RAM, twice that of the previous generations. However the ~70 MHz speed improvement from 2G to 3G iPod touch is not the real increase in speed. This alone results in only a 10% performance improvement. Instead, the new processor is based on the ARM Cortex A8 specifications, which dramatically improve performance at the same clock speeds.
In real use, the new iPod touch 3G is much faster than the 2G, to the magnitude of 2x in many cases. In safari, pages render much faster, apps launch easily twice as fast, and the new GPU is on a totally new level, with support for complex shading operations in openGL ES 2.0.
I've written a benchmark application for the iPod touch and the iPhone called Gauge Mathematical Tool, on the App Store, which also has a pi approximator to 1 million digits, a prime number generator, and a Mandelbrot fractal explorer. The version on the app store right now is not effective for benchmarking comparisons, but I've sent an update to Apple for review which greatly improves accuracy of the benchmark and performance of the math tools.
Here are some numbers from the updated version (not yet available)
Main benchmark:
-iPod touch 1G scores 79
-iPod touch 2G scores 100
-iPod touch 3G scores 175
-iPhone 3GS scores slightly lower than the iPT 3G, at 172 (probably due to extra tasks running in background such as phone app that iPT doesn't have - not hardware issue)
Time to calculate 10000 digits of pi:
-iPod touch 1G = 2.1 seconds
-iPod touch 3G = 1.12 seconds.
Time to draw 5000 quartz shapes
-iPod touch 1G = 2.6 seconds
-iPod touch 3G = 1.1 seconds
Time to launch Mandelbrot tool
-iPod touch 1G = 3.25 seconds
-iPod touch 3G = 1.5 seconds
I've also ran some sysctl calls on the new hardware, and that is how I know the clockspeed and RAM amounts of the new devices. (iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3G share same amount of RAM, processor (new revision in iPod touch, possibly capable of running at higher clockspeed than version in 3GS, but turned down to save battery), chipset, and graphics.
There is a huge difference in real use between the two devices, and I was astounded when I ran the updated version of my application, at how fast it ran.
I highly recommend the upgrade, for owners of 1G or 2G iPod touches. The improvement from the 1G to the 2G, even with a larger increase in clock speed, does not compare with going from the 2G to the 3G, because of the architectural improvements of going from ARM11 to ARM cortex A8.
I hope that this helps some people. If any of you are interested in trying Gauge Mathematical Tool, you can now, but the benchmark results will not be accurate until the update I sent is approved in a week or 2. Also, since the binary is not optimized for ARM7 instructions in the current app store version, it does not run nearly as fast as in the submitted update.
Sorry for the very long comment.
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Rudy said 3:56PM on 9-14-2009
i actually just got my 32gb ipod touch today. i would definitely say its faster than my 3G. switching between applications is very smooth. loading times for apps are quicker as well. it just gives the entire experience a performance boost.
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