Apple A4
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| Produced | From March 2010 to Present |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Apple |
| Common manufacturer(s) | |
| Max. CPU clock rate | 1 GHz |
| Min. feature size | 45 nm |
| Instruction set | ARM v7 |
| Cores | 1 |
| L1 cache | 32 kB Instruction + 32 kB Data |
| L2 cache | 512 kB[1] |
| Successor | Apple A5 |
The Apple A4 is a package on package (PoP) system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung.[2] It combines an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU with a PowerVR GPU, and emphasizes power efficiency.[3] The chip commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad tablet;[4] followed shortly by the iPhone 4 smartphone,[5] the 4th generation iPod Touch and the 2nd generation Apple TV. It was superseded in the second-generation iPad, released the following year, by the Apple A5 processor.
The part model number is: S5L8930X[6]
Contents |
[edit] Design
Apple A4 is based on the ARM processor architecture.[7] The first version released runs at 1 GHz for the iPad and contains an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core paired with a PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processor (GPU)[4][8][9][10] built on Samsung's 45-nanometer (nm) silicon chip fabrication process.[11] Clock speed for the units used in the iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and Apple TVs have not been revealed.
The Cortex-A8 core used in the A4 is thought to use performance enhancements developed by chip designer Intrinsity (which was subsequently acquired by Apple)[12] in collaboration with Samsung.[13] The resulting core, dubbed "Hummingbird", is able to run at far higher clock rates than other implementations while remaining fully compatible with the Cortex-A8 design provided by ARM.[14] Other performance improvements include additional L2 cache. The same Cortex-A8 CPU core used in the A4 is also used in Samsung's S5PC110A01 SoC.[15][16]
The A4 processor package does not contain RAM, but supports PoP installation. The top package of the A4 used in the iPad, in the iPod Touch[17] 4th gen and in the Apple TV[18] 2nd gen contains two low-power 128 MB DDR SDRAM chips for a total of 256MB RAM. For the iPhone 4 there are two chips of 256 MB for a total of 512 MB.[19][20][21] RAM is connected to the processor using ARM's 64-bit-wide AMBA 3 AXI bus. This is twice the width of the RAM data bus used in previous ARM 11 and ARM 9 based Apple devices, to support the greater need for graphics bandwidth in the iPad.[22]
[edit] History
The Apple A4 chip, along with the original iPad, was announced on January 27, 2010, during Apple's "Latest Creation" event.[4]
On June 7, 2010, Steve Jobs publicly confirmed that the iPhone 4 would contain the A4 processor, although it was not yet known at the time if it would have the same frequency, bus width, or caches as the A4 found in the earlier produced iPad.[5]
On September 1, 2010, the 4th-generation iPod touch and the 2nd-generation Apple TV were updated to include the A4 processor. Later on October 4, 2011, Apple refreshed the iPod touch to add a white model, along with the existing black model. Both models still contain the A4 processor.[23]
[edit] Products that include the Apple A4
- Apple iPad — April 2010
- Apple iPhone 4 — June 2010 (Black; GSM), February 2011 (Black; CDMA), April 2011 (White; GSM & CDMA)
- Apple iPod Touch 4th gen — September 2010 (Black model), October 2011 (White model)
- Apple TV 2nd gen — September 2010
[edit] See also
- Apple Ax, the series of ARM based system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors designed by Apple for their consumer electronic devices.
- Apple A5, Apple's second-generation Apple Ax SoC, featuring a dual-core processor.
- PWRficient, a processor designed by P.A. Semi, a company Apple acquired to form an in-house custom chip design department.
- PowerVR SGX GPUs were also used in the iPhone 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch.
- ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore
[edit] References
- ^ "Ars Reviews". Arstechnica. http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/03/ipad-2-the-ars-review.ars/3. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ Clark, Don (2010-04-05). "Apple iPad Taps Familiar Component Suppliers - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303912104575164112770784290.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^ "iPad - It's thin, light, powerful, and revolutionary". Apple. http://www.apple.com/ipad/design/#performance. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ a b c "Apple Launches iPad" (Press release). Apple. 2010-01-27. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/01/27ipad.html. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ a b "iPhone 4 design". Apple. 2010-07-06. http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/index.html.
- ^ iOS 5.1 code hints at simultaneous A5X and A6 processor development
- ^ Vance, Ashlee (2010-02-21). "For Chip Makers, the Next Battle Is in Smartphones". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/technology/22chip.html. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
- ^ Wiens, Kyle (2010-04-05). "conclusion from both hard and software analysis it uses an ARM Cortex-A8 core". Ifixit.com. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple-A4-Teardown/2204/3. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^ "iPad — Technical specifications and accessories for iPad". Apple. http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ Melanson, Donald (2010-02-23). "iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/ipad-confirmed-to-use-powervr-sgx-graphics/.
- ^ "Chipworks Confirms Apple A4 iPad chip is fabbed by Samsung in their 45-nm process". Chipworks. http://www.chipworks.com/A4_is_Samsung_45nm.aspx.
- ^ Stokes, Jon (2010-04-28). "Apple purchase of Intrinsity confirmed". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/apple-purchase-of-intrinsity-confirmed.ars. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- ^ Merritt, Rick. "Samsung, Intrinsity pump ARM to GHz rate". EETimes.com. http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600577. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ Keizer, Gregg (2010-04-06). "Apple iPad smokes past the iPhone 3GS in speed". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/193597/Apple_iPad_Smokes_Past_the_iPhone_3GS_in_Speed_Test.html. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
- ^ Boldt, Paul; Scansen, Don; Whibley, Tim (16 June 2010). "Apple's A4 dissected, discussed...and tantalizing". EETimes.com. http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700447. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "Microsoft PowerPoint - Apple A4 vs SEC S5PC110A01" (PDF). http://www.ubmtechinsights.com/uploadedFiles/Apple%20A4%20vs%20SEC%20S5PC110A01.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "Teardown of Apple's 4th-gen iPod touch finds 256MB of RAM". Appleinsider.com. 2010-09-08. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/09/08/teardown_of_apples_4th_gen_ipod_touch_finds_256mb_of_ram.html. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
- ^ "Apple TV 2nd Generation Teardown". iFixit. 2010-09-30. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple-TV-2nd-Generation-Teardown/3625/2. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
- ^ "Apple reveals iPhone 4 has 512MB RAM, doubling iPad - report". Appleinsider.com. 2010-06-17. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/17/apple_reveals_iphone_4_has_512mb_ram_doubling_ipad_report.html. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "A Peek Inside Apple’s A4 Processor". iFixit. 2010-04-05. http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2010/04/a-peek-inside-apples-a4-processor/.
- ^ Greenberg, Marc (2010-04-09). "Apple iPad: no LPDDR2?". Denali. http://www.denali.com/wordpress/index.php/dmr/2010/04/09/apple-ipad-no-lpddr2.
- ^ Merritt, Rick (2010-04-09). "iPad equipped to deliver richer graphics". EE Times Asia. http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800603321_499495_NP_1e1373d9.HTM. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
- ^ http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs.html
[edit] External links
- MacWorld – Apple inside: the significance of the iPad's A4 chip
- CNET—Inside the iPad: Apple's new 'A4' chip
- HotHardware—iPad's Identity Crisis and Apple's A4 CPU Showstopper
- EETimes—Apple's A4 dissected
- Understanding iPad’s A4 Processor
- ARM Cortex-A series processors
- PowerVR GPU specifications pages
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