ARM Announces Dual-Core Cortex-A9 Processor Designs

[MacRumors]

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.

Article Link: ARM Announces Dual-Core Cortex-A9 Processor Designs

 

[HLdan]

Hopefully we'll see these in future iMacs.

 

[JayX]

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iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.

 

[countrydweller]

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iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.

Yes, the next gen iphone will be nice....

 

[neoserver]

If Apple were to bring these dual-core chips to the iPhone, I would hope that they would also bring in an implementation of Grand Central Dispatch to the iPhone SDK. It would only make sense to do so...

 

[talkingfuture]

Hopefully we'll see this in something new with an Apple logo soon. If not at least in the next iPhone.

 

[Chimpy]

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iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.

I agree - the transition to Intel is still fairly fresh, I can't see them rushing to a new processor maker any time soon.

 

[MalibuMatt98]

Would be sweet for a new iPhone, and the iPod Touch. Who knows, it may even be for a next gen Apple TV...would be nice.

 

[BrianGA]

Overclocking ARM Chips

Has there been any successful attempt, outside of Apple, to overclock ARM chips within an iPhone / iPod Touch?

 

[Rot'nApple]

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.

But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon

 

[pmjoe]

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.

Perfect timing for a tablet perhaps?

 

[stuffradio]

It would be utterly amazing to get this chip in the iPhone. If it went into the iPhone, I'd want to be able to cluster the phones together because my dad and sister own an iPhone too, lol. Web server ran on clustered iPhones ftw. That would be the smallest server in size ever.

 

[PeterQC]

Hopefully we'll see these in future iMacs.

If theses processors end up in the iMacs, that pretty much mean no more OSX, since these processors need to be recoded for. Also, comparatively with an comparable 2GHz Peryn Intel C2D, they probably are also underpowered.

 

[jav6454]

And then people will bitch as of why the A9 is underclocked below 2GHz. Then when it's released at it's native speed, people will bitch at the device's poor battery performance....

Good article, but it won't satisfy people.

 

[VenusianSky]

Being that it is dual core, no big deal if it is underclocked, as long as the OS is multi-threaded. If they even clock it @ 1Ghz, that will be a big jump from the 3GS.

 

[cswiger1]

Perfect timing for a tablet perhaps?

I'm thinking the tablet will run OSX. If so, it would need Intel right?

 

[VenusianSky]

Perfect timing for a tablet perhaps?

I would figure that a tablet would have the same processor as a Macbook.

 

[EagerDragon]

But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon

Not really,
I like how it looks now, changing the look of the device does nothing for me. More power and more features is what interest me.

With Apple trying to crate their own ARM based design, and after spending all that money buying the know how, it would be funny if this particular chip was better than what Apple came out with.

Doing your own thing is not always the right answer. We will find out soon I guess.

 

[15inchbrick]

But isn't it time for Apple to refresh the outside design of the iPhone by tweaking it a little?! Maybe a different phone casing design can tolerate the "thermally-constrained environment and energy requirements".

The candy bar design is getting stale... and having a different bezel or an all black back casing just doesn't cut it with regards to new cutting edge design.

I'd like to see a new form factor... does anyone else?

C'mon July 2010 - C'mon

I don't think that we will see anything with a different screen size, The reason the app store is taking off is because the apps work on all iphones if they screw with that, and make different versions for different phones/screen sizes people might freak out!

 

[MasterDev]

I see it now... Apple iCoffee Maker. Touch screen java goodness...

 

[HLdan]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

iMacs ? I really can't see Apple moving away from Intel at this stage. Mobile devices are a whole different ball game and a 4th gen iPhone being powered by one of these is possible, and would certainly grab headlines if they're an early Western adoptation.

Ha ha, sorry, I have to admit that I didn't read the whole article, I just wanted to be the first person posting as someone always beats me to it so I just came up with any Apple product that came to mind.

 

[mccoma]

P.A. Semi

I think P.A. Semi is better known as a PowerPC design firm. I actually don't think they had an ARM-based design. The founders do know a thing or two about the ARM though.

 

[mccoma]

ARM make core, Apple, Samsung, etc. do rest

With Apple trying to crate their own ARM based design, and after spending all that money buying the know how, it would be funny if this particular chip was better than what Apple came out with.

Doing your own thing is not always the right answer. We will find out soon I guess.

Once again, ARM licenses the core of a chip and licensees do the full support chip / system on a chip design. Given that Apple is designing parts that are not designed by ARM, I would guess Apple (and Samsung, Qualcomm, etc) will be fine.

 

[the-oz-man]

With this processor the iPhone would be known as the iMelt. I can't see this in the current design.

 

[carmenodie]

someone beat me to it. Yeah, I know Apple is going to be making its own pc chips far away from intel. With 32 billion in the bank and a market cap in excess of 156 billion...

When this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're going to see some serious ****!