“For quite some time, Apple has been cranking out one crazy-impressive mobile processor after another,” Ashraf Eassa writes for The Motley Fool. “This year’s A10 chip, unsurprisingly, contains the fastest processor cores ever crammed into a smartphone — bar none. The processor performance of even Apple’s prior-generation A9 has yet to be matched by any other mobile processor maker.”
“Until now, it was something of a mystery as to whether Apple’s high-efficiency cores were an internal Apple design or simply an off-the-shelf, low-power processor like ARM Holdings’ Cortex A53,” Eassa writes. “Thanks to some work done by the Linley Group (via Barron’s), that mystery is now solved.”
“The Linley Group says that Apple’s high-efficiency core is a processor that Apple has codenamed Zephyr. The core is quite small, taking up just 0.78 square millimeters of area on the A10 processor (much smaller than Apple’s high-performance Hurricane core found on the same chip), though the Linley Group says it’s a bit larger than ARM’s Cortex A53 (but I’d imagine that it’s more powerful as well). What’s interesting about Zephyr, though, isn’t necessarily its power or performance but instead the mere fact that it exists,” Eassa writes. “That Apple has designed an all-new processor core specifically to serve as a ‘high-efficiency’ counterpart to a high-performance core suggests that the company has built its processor/chip teams out even further.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This speaks volumes: “The processor performance of even Apple’s prior-generation A9 has yet to be matched by any other mobile processor maker.”
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s A10 Fusion chip ‘blows away the competition,’ could easily power MacBook Air – Linley Group – October 21, 2016
Apple’s A10 Fusion chip miracle – September 20, 2016
The iPhone’s new A10 Fusion chip should worry Intel – September 16, 2016
Apple’s remarkable new A10, S2, W1 chips alter the semiconductor landscape – September 15, 2016
Wired reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘Fantastic’ – September 14, 2016
Sprint, T-Mobile: iPhone 7/Plus pre-orders up 4X over last year; Apple shares surge – September 13, 2016
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘A strong handset for sure’ – September 13, 2016
WSJ reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘Get over the headphone thing and upgrade’ – September 13, 2016
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: It’s a great phone, but where’s my headphone jack? – September 13, 2016
The Verge reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘The future in disguise’ – September 13, 2016
