New Apple TV Reportedly Equipped With Binned A15 Chip With 5-Core CPU

[MacRumors]

The third-generation Apple TV 4K released earlier this month is equipped with a binned version of the A15 Bionic chip with one CPU core disabled, according to the website FlatpanelsHD, citing information from the TV Info app for tvOS.

The review claims the A15 Bionic has a five-core CPU in the new Apple TV, whereas the chip has a six-core CPU in iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models.

Despite having a binned CPU and a fanless design, the website found the new Apple TV to be roughly 40% faster and throttle less than the previous Apple TV 4K with the A12 Bionic chip. The review said the new Apple TV is much faster than previous-generation consoles like the Xbox One, but the PS5 still pulls ahead in multi-core benchmark testing.

While not confirmed, the report also suspects that the Apple TV uses a version of the A15 Bionic with a four-core GPU, compared to a five-core GPU in iPhone 13 Pro models. Apple's streaming box still lags behind popular consoles in graphics performance, but the review said it is "starting to get to a point where Xbox One and PS4 games should, in theory, be playable on Apple TV without too many compromises."

Apple says GPU performance is up to 30% faster on the new Apple TV compared to the previous generation, but there are no GPU benchmark apps for tvOS.

The review pointed out that the Apple TV only offers a limited number of games that take full advantage of the A15 Bionic's capabilities, so the device remains far from a "console killer," but the performance boosts could set the stage for a bigger gaming push.

Article Link: New Apple TV Reportedly Equipped With Binned A15 Chip With 5-Core CPU

 

[dannyyankou]

Apple needs to get more serious about gaming, all that power and not a ton to show with it.

 

[icanhazmac]

Makes sense, without a much bigger commitment to games how much power does ATV need? Good use for those chips.

 

[Ashbash75]

Apple TV and Bionic in the same sentence makes my mind think of a gimped Steve Austin.

 

[MacinMan]

I'm personally not really interested in gaming on the Apple TV as I primarily use it for music and video streaming. I would be interested to see where gaming goes though, even though I would probably pick a different platform for gaming such as Nintendo maybe? since I'm a fan of the Mario games, and maybe a few others. My main time for playing games was as a kid back in the 80's and my main platform was Atari, and then Nintendo. Beyond that whenever I've tried modern games I've gotten bored or frustrated. Maybe it's just not for me anymore.

 

[Villarrealadrian]

Doesn’t matter if there are no AAA games…

 

[macsplusmacs]

For the new price of $129...

This is fine.

 

[McWetty]

Can we get Nintendo to put a Switch emulator on it? I’d love to play my Switch games while my kids are dominating the actual Switch.

 

[Nozuka]

Personally, i found the efficiency gains pretty interesting.

 

[akbarali.ch]

As with iPad with so much power but nerfed by OS, the Apple TV is even more nerfed. I have Apple TV HD, my kids love to play tennis and other games that require accelerometer, but now that is nixed in the newer remote.
Why are they allergic to games? Whats the big picture here, anyone ?

 

[ladodger5]

Apple needs to get more serious about gaming, all that power and not a ton to show with it.

Just like the M1 & M2 ipad pros

 

[Paddle1]

I don't think the Apple TV has the storage for Xbox and PlayStation games.

 

[GMShadow]

Doesn’t matter if there are no AAA games…

Why would any studio port a modern AAA experience to iOS or tvOS when the userbase thinks a game should cost nothing or 99 cents at most? No one with an Apple TV is going to pay $60+ for a game.

 

[Jimmdean]

whatever it takes to make it fanless I guess...

 

[dugbug]

Why would any studio port a modern AAA experience to iOS or tvOS when the userbase thinks a game should cost nothing or 99 cents at most? No one with an Apple TV is going to pay $60+ for a game.

I would if the game is good. Heck, make the ipad and apple tv purchases be common.

 

[mattaaron]

Weird to see the words Xbox/Playstation in the same line as AppleTV. Funny because AppleTV is my go-to for Media consumption (Plex), don't mind paying $150, $200, even $300 for it, but crazy to think that's getting into what it cost for a gaming console.

Hopefully in 5-10 years Apple will be more heavily into gaming and there will be a AppleTV with an M5 chip on par with current consoles. I'd love to see the seamlessness of Apple's stuff (AirPlay, FaceTime, Continuity) in a gaming console.

 

[sdf]

Why would any studio port a modern AAA experience to iOS or tvOS when the userbase thinks a game should cost nothing or 99 cents at most? No one with an Apple TV is going to pay $60+ for a game.

Don’t forget the lack of a pack in controller.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The PS4 and Xbox One are 9 years old. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be impressive, or not.

 

[Digital Dude]

I actually had to look up the term ‘binned version’ for the definition. So, binned is used since crappy’ was already taken.

 

[citysnaps]

I actually had to look up the term ‘binned version’ for the definition. So, binned is used since crappy’ was already taken.

How is it crappy?

 

[Falhófnir]

Wait, isn't the 5 core version the full version as used in the 13 Pro and 14? The 13 had a 4 core GPU, and I don't think any device has a 6 GPU core A15!

Edit: ok talking about the CPU not GPU

 

[Wags]

Binned or iPhone rejects

 

[russell_314]

Can someone call the EU and have them force Apple to use M1 😂🤣

 

[CaptMarvel]

Apple TV and Bionic in the same sentence makes my mind think of a gimped Steve Austin.

Double knee braced Austin was a menace…soo technically I guess a binned Apple TV should be able to open a can of whoop…

And that’s the bottom line…

 

[kalafalas]

This thing is still very noticeably faster than my A10X version, especially from the ram, I feel like no apps have to refresh anymore even if I haven’t watched something in days. It’s great!

Also, the A10X was 6 core, but only one cluster could be on at once, vs the a12/a15 models which can run the P and E cores simultaneously which is huge for multithreaded performance. While I’m playing a game on the P cores, things like iCloud Photo Library and app updates can run on the E cores and not slow my game down