A4 Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple's A4 and A5 processors targeted in a new lawsuit filed by Via

by Kelly Hodgkins (Sep 23rd, 2011)

According to a Bloomberg report, well-known motherboard and chipset manufacturer Via has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. Filed in Delaware Federal court, the complaint accuses Apple of infringing three US patents that cover microprocessor technology used in smartphones and ...

Apple reportedly leaves Samsung for A6 production

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jun 27th, 2011)

Apple may drop Samsung and switch to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the production of its next generation A6 chipset. The Cupertino Company is reportedly working with TSMC to move to a 28 nm ARM SoC in 2012. Rumors of this TSMC partnership surfaced earlier this year ...

Intel hints at option of custom chip foundry for big customers

by Michael Grothaus (May 26th, 2011)

Reuters is reporting that Intel "wouldn't blink" if given the chance to make custom chips for Apple's devices, like the iPhone and iPad. At an investor event in London on Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told journalists that "there are certain customers that would be interesting ...

Apple's A5 chip rumored to have 4X the power of A4

by Mike Schramm (Jan 17th, 2011)

AppleInsider is reporting that both the iPad 2 and the next generation of the iPhone, both rumored to be released later on this year, will feature the next generation of chips designed by Apple. The A5 (named after the A4, the current chip in most iOS devices) is rumored to have two cores, making ...

Engadget: Apple TV gets apps, new name in iTV

by Mike Schramm (Aug 11th, 2010)

Our friends at Engadget have heard from a trusted source that Apple is indeed remaking the Apple TV, as was previously guessed based on its past trajectory. But the final product may surprise you: it won't have 1080p output, according to Engadget (which refutes earlier rumors), but it will keep that ...

A4 microprocessor found lurking inside 4G iPhone

by Dave Caolo (May 12th, 2010)

Well, look at that. The newest batch of leaked 4G iPhone photos includes crystal-clear* tear down shots, and one of them reveals what seems to be Apple's own A4 processor. Engadget notes that "339S0084," seen just below the Apple logo, identifies what we're looking at as the A4, according to ...

Apple OS and the new A4 chip could be headed to new gadgets

by Mel Martin (Feb 23rd, 2010)

Apple appears to have plans for the iPhone OS beyond the iPhone, and iPad. A report in Computerworld notes a new Apple job posting for an Engineering Manager that can bring the iPhone OS to new platforms. The Core Platform team within Apple's Core OS organization is looking for a talented and ...

NYT: Chips like the A4 could cost $1 billion to design

by Mike Schramm (Feb 22nd, 2010)

Apple may have finally gotten the chip they wanted with the iPad's A4, but a little freedom from contracting with other chip makers didn't come cheap. In a piece about how to make silicon chips, the New York Times estimates the cost to put a chip like the A4 together at a whopping $1 billion. And ...

iPad CPU may find its way into next-gen iPhone

by Chris Rawson (Jan 29th, 2010)

Since the announcement that the iPad comes with a 1 GHz A4 chip developed and owned by Apple (thanks, no doubt, to their acquisition of chipmaker PA Semi), one thing's been on a lot of people's minds: when will this chip make it to the iPhone? The iPhone 3GS runs on an 833 MHz Samsung chip, that, ...

Five things to bring back from the iPad

by Mike Schramm (Jan 29th, 2010)

MobileCrunch has an interesting post up about five things the iPad has and does that Apple would do well to bring back to those of us using the iPhone. I think we'll see more of these as we go along (especially as, you know, some of us actually get to touch and use the device), but this list is a ...

Apple making its own chips starting with the A4

by Mike Schramm (Jan 27th, 2010)

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. ...

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