Apple A8

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Apple A8
Apple A8 chip, used on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPod Touch 6th Gen
General information
LaunchedSeptember 9, 2014
DiscontinuedPresent
Designed byApple Inc.
Common manufacturer(s)
Product codeAPL1011[3]
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate1.1 GHz to 1.4 GHz [4]
Cache
L1 cachePer core: 64 KB instruction + 64 KB data[5]
L2 cache1 MB shared[5]
L3 cache4 MB[5]
Architecture and classification
ApplicationMobile
Technology node20 nm[6]
MicroarchitectureTyphoon[7] ARMv8-A-compatible[5]
Instruction setA64, A32, T32
Physical specifications
Cores
GPU(s)PowerVR Series 6XT GX6450 (quad-core)[9]
Products, models, variants
Variant(s)
History
Predecessor(s)Apple A7
Successor(s)Apple A9

The Apple A8 is a 64-bit ARM based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. It first appeared in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which was introduced on September 9, 2014.[10] Apple states that it has 25% more CPU performance and 50% more graphics performance while drawing only 50% of the power compared to its predecessor, the Apple A7.[11]

Design

The A8 is manufactured on a 20 nm process[6] by TSMC,[1] which replaced Samsung as the manufacturer of Apple's mobile device processors. It contains 2 billion transistors. Despite that being double the number of transistors compared to the A7, its physical size has been reduced by 13% to 89 mm2 (consistent with a shrink only, not known to be a new microarchitecture).[8] It has 1 GB of LPDDR3 RAM included in the package.[3]

Early benchmarking using the Geekbench application suggests that the processor is dual core, and has a frequency of 1.38 GHz, supporting Apple's claim of it being 25% faster than the A7.[4] It also supports the notion of this being a second generation[12] enhanced Cyclone core called Typhoon,[7] and not an entirely new architecture which would supposedly mean a more significant performance gain per Hz.[5]

On October 16, 2014, Apple introduced a variant of the A8, the A8X, in the iPad Air 2. Compared to the A8, the A8X has improved graphics and CPU performance due to one extra core and higher frequency.

Products that include the Apple A8

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus". Chipworks. September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "iPhone 6 Component Costs Estimated to Begin at $200, Samsung Supplying Some A8 Chips". MacRumors. September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "iPhone 6 Plus Teardown". iFixit. September 18, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Alleged iPhone 6 Geekbench Results Reveal 1.4 GHz Dual-Core A8 Chip, 1 GB of RAM
  5. ^ a b c d e "The iPhone 6 Review: A8's CPU: What Comes After Cyclone?". AnandTech. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Smith, Ryan (September 9, 2014). "Apple Announces A8 SoC". AnandTech. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  7. ^ a b The Samsung Exynos 7420 Deep Dive - Inside A Modern 14nm SoC
  8. ^ a b Anthony, Sebastian. "Apple's A8 SoC analyzed: The iPhone 6 chip is a 2-billion-transistor 20nm monster". www.extremetech.com. ExtremeTech. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  9. ^ Smith, Ryan (September 23, 2014). "Chipworks Disassembles Apple's A8 SoC: GX6450, 4MB L3 Cache & More". AnandTech. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "Apple Announces iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus—The Biggest Advancements in iPhone History" (Press release). Apple. September 9, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  11. ^ Savov, Vlad (September 9, 2014). "iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have a new faster A8 processor". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  12. ^ Apple - iPhone 6 - Technology
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