February 23, 2010 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

A new corporate job listing implies Apple’s iPhone OS could become the interface for new hardware beyond the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch in the future.

Last week, Apple revealed it is looking to hire an engineering manager to work at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The full-time job would lead a team responsible for the architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware based on the iPhone OS.

“The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms,” the job listing reads.
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January 28, 2010 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

Details of Apple’s custom-built processor inside the newly unveiled iPad are beginning to surface, with a report stating the system-on-a-chip includes an ARM Cortex-A9-based CPU accompanied by a GPU.

According to Bright Side of News, the Apple A4 is based mostly on intellectual property from ARM reference designs. The new, custom chip from Apple, through its purchase of fabless chip designer P.A. Semi, includes the Cortex-A9 MPCore (identical to the processor in the nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon), a ARM Mali 50-series GPU, and a memory controller all on one die. Read more…

January 07, 2010 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

With a rumored Jan. 27 event fast approaching, speculation regarding Apple’s still-unannounced tablet continues to mount. This week, one analyst shared alleged information on the device’s internal components, while another attempted to project the cost of its parts.

Analyst Ashok Kumar of Northeast Securities spoke with AppleInsider this week about the device, which is expected to debut this month and ship in March. Kumar said the tablet processor will be manufactured by Samsung and will be based on the Cortex-A8 ARM architecture. He believes it will have a speed of about 1GHz.
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September 16, 2009 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

This is an iPhone mockup NOT REAL OR ANY SPECULATION

Chip design firm ARM today announced the development of two dual-core chip designs based on the company’s Cortex-A9 platform. Implementations of the new chip designs, which will deliver performance in excess of 2 GHz while drawing less than 0.25 W of power per CPU, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Cortex-A9 speed-optimized hard macro implementation will provide system designers with an industry standard ARM processor incorporating aggressive low-power techniques to further extend ARM’s performance leadership into high-margin consumer and enterprise devices within the power envelope necessary for compact, high-density and thermally constrained environments. This hard macro implementation operates in excess of 2GHz when selected from typical silicon and represents an ideal solution for high-margin performance-oriented applications.

ARM is positioning the chip design for use in such consumer electronics devices as set-top boxes, digital TVs, and printers, although it has been claimed in the past that the chips would be appropriate for mobile platforms and would appear in those devices in 2010.

The iPhone 3GS utilizes a Cortex-A8-based processor from Samsung, suggesting that the Cortex-A9 could be a natural fit for the next-generation iPhone, although the thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements of the iPhone would likely dictate that the chip be underclocked as has been done for several iPhone and iPod touch models.

Apple, which acquired ARM chip design firm P.A. Semi in April 2008, has been rumored to be working on its own ARM-based chip designs for both the iPhone and the much-anticipated Apple tablet, and the introduction of dual-core Cortex-A9 processors would offer the company additional computing power and energy-saving options upon which to base its device designs.

Via macrumors.com