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Apple making its own chips starting with the A4

Even though this morning's presentation had Apple calling themselves the "largest mobile device company" in the world, apparently they're in the processor business now, too. The just-announced iPad doesn't carry any special Intel or Nvidia CPU -- it's a homecooked 1GHz chip called the Apple A4. Apple says it's designed for high performance and low power, which is probably how they got that crazy 10 hour battery life and one month (!) standby life. We guess that PA Semi acquisition was a good idea.

We've been hearing for a while that Apple was picking up chip designers and hiring specialists for chipmaking, and it looks like the A4 is the first release (fourth produced?) product of all of that. It'll be interesting to see how their first major foray into silicon works out.

Even though this morning's presentation had Apple calling themselves the "largest mobile device company" in the world, apparently they're...
 

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janet

Apple products are really so good and to know that they will have release A4 chips.
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February 18 2010 at 3:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
timrowledge

A4 is an ARM CorTex9 based system on chip. ARM designed the cpu and a lot of the support stuff. Apple will have taken that design under license (they've had one for many years, since around 1990 or so) and added more support stuff around it. If they have an architecture license these days, they might even have added some extra capabilities to the CPU core.

They didn't design it from the ground up, they built on 20 years of experience with the design. It isn't intel x86 compatible, it's better.

January 27 2010 at 9:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ed Beck

@Ed (other)

"Don't know if they have been partners with ARM"

Actually, Apple owned a huge stake in ARM at one point in time. ARM actually spun off from Apple and another company when Apple was creating the Newton. So in fact, the iPad is more than just a device with the Newton in its heritage, it's actually a child of the newton.

I believe Apple finished divesting itself of its ARM investment during the dark days when ARM was worth a lot and Apple was begging for cash.

January 27 2010 at 8:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Henri

I`m sorry Jordan...

If you cannot stick to real arguments other than gut-feelings, I guess this discussion is dead to begin with.

Please buy a Zune-phone and continue your discussion elsewhere.

January 27 2010 at 7:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ed

I've never heard the use of components in a product as being monopolistic... I think you're misunderstanding the term. Any company can have a 'monopoly' on the things that make up their products, but where do you start? Even with Apple making their own processors, they're still paying a company in the far east the fab them for them, they're still paying someone to extract silicon and process it. They're still paying ARM licensing fees for the processor design. The only thing they aren't doing is paying Samsung to use their version of an ARM core.

The more integrated something like the iPad is, the better it is, at least in terms of performance and battery life.

I think you'd have a really hard time convincing any court that using your own components in a product was monopolistic. Consumers aren't buying the components, they're buying the product. That's entirely different to bundling Internet Explorer with Windows - both are distinct products, something that Microsoft tried to argue wasn't true. If Apple started giving you a free iPhone with every Mac purchase, and Apple had a PC monopoly, then that'd be monopolistic behavior.

January 27 2010 at 5:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Henri

You are blaming Apple for EU regulation.

I agree that the same rules should apply for Apple but one can hardly blame a company in persuing the goal of producing high quality hardware.

Fact: Compiled iPhone OS software does not run on Intel, Motorola or AMD.

If ARM is not powerful enough to upgrade performance, the only way is to redesign it and build it yourself.

January 27 2010 at 5:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shawn

Here is a thought. This will be the chip that runs the 4th gen iPhone / iPhone OS 4...

Just a thought, cause we have to assume that both of those will be out this late spring/summer.

(and can still hold out hope for a Verizon deal on the iPhone)

January 27 2010 at 5:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Shawn's comment
Henri

Logical enough, since it is completly backwards compatible but way more powerful.

The only thing to keep in mind is battery-life. Not a very big issue for a larger device like the iPad because the battery is probably a lot larger, but something to keep in mind for something as small as an iPhone.

But I remember reading recently that Apple applied for a patent on solar-powered battery charge. My guess is you are right.

January 27 2010 at 5:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Henri

Excuse my Dutch, but that simply is a load of poep.

What exactly is bad about Apple being in control over their own hardware?
For all i know, Apple is still -at first- a hardware manufacturer.

And, as someone else said above, Apple probably outsourced the actual manufacturing of the processor. And even if they didn`t... People have to produce it... how is that loss of jobs?

Competition? If the A4 turns out to be a great processor, how is that bad for competition? Won`t it encourage other manufacturers to try a little harder?

January 27 2010 at 5:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cy Starkman

What seemingly no one is old enough to remember is that ARM was originally a partnership between Apple and Acorn and that the ARM was designed specifically for the Newton. It was then opened up and then spun off into a consortium...

This isn't Apple's first foray into silicon, this is them taking back inhouse something they coinvented.

Tegra, Snapdragon, Pre et al all use "Apple" processors, well the decendants of...

January 27 2010 at 4:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Cy Starkman's comment
SIP

Hasn't Apple been a partner in ARM for some years now??

January 27 2010 at 4:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to SIP's comment
Ed

They've licensed ARM processors, made by Samsung I believe. I don't know if they've directly been partners with ARM.

ARM don't make any of their own processors, they just design the cores and let others license and make them. I guess this means that the Apple A4 must be based on a standard ARM core of some sort, which we'll presumably find out soon.

January 27 2010 at 5:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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