With iPhone 5, Apple Packs its CPU with two Highly Advanced ARM Cortex A15 Cores

We learned a lot about the iPhone 5 yesterday, but the details that came out after the keynote address have proved just as interesting. First we found out that Apple is actually making three new iPhones, and now we’ve got wind that the A6 processor on the inside of the new device is the first to use ARM Cortex A15 cores.

That might not mean very much to you, but those of you who will become early adopters of iPhone 5 can at least take pride in knowing that your phone is the very first to use A15s, a highly advanced CPU set based on 32nm LP HK+MG process Apple has beaten Samsung and Texas Instrument in delivering the chip for use in a phone. Apple’s earlier devices like the iPhone 4S had ARM Cortex-A8 processor cores, but the upgrade to A15 means the iPhone 5 has “the highest-performance licensable processor the industry has ever seen.”

Perhaps Tim Cook and the team didn’t mention this bit of information simply because name-dropping the A6 chip and it’s “2x faster CPU and graphics” was just easier. Only those with a fairly advanced knowledge of what goes on inside smartphones would have picked up on the fact that the A15 cores are so advanced that even the likes of TI and Samsung have yet to release a handset that features them.

The 32-nanometer process and other optimizations also allows the A6 chip to be 22% physically smaller while using less power. That fits well with the slimmer and lighter iPhone 5 design.

It will be just one week until many of us get the iPhone 5 in our hands for good. At that point, it’s only a matter of time before the very curious out there pry it open and spill more details about what exactly is housed on the inside.

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Devin Wieland

 

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