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Apple released their new processor for the coming year's iOS products when they debuted it in the iPad 2. This new processor is called the A5, and it is based on the ARM Cortex A9 reference processor. The A5 is a dual-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) running at a variable speed of 800Mhz to 1Ghz. This variable speed allows it to save more power when not performing major tasks.

The processor costs Apple more to produce their own chip than to buy an off the shelf ARM processor. Some estimate the difference to be around 50% more, but the extra cost gives Apple the ability to make a better chip by modifying the reference design to suit their needs. Apple will be able to reduce this cost over time by putting the A5 into every iOS device like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and AppleTV. The performance gains are well worth it and gives Apple a major advantage in the mobile market space. While we don't know what Apple plans for next year's A6, we do know ARM's plans for future ARM processors.

ARM revealed their next generation ARM processor platform, the Cortex A15 (codename Eagle) last fall. The A15 will be a quad-core processor that can run at speeds up to 2.5Ghz, but it will take time for the chip manufacturers to test and build these new reference chips. Texas Instruments was the first to license the new processor and are projected to release them in 2012. Samsung is also excepted to build a Cortex A15 processor, and their roadmap shows them to be released in 2012 or 2013.

Samsung is Apple's current supplier of the A5 processor. Apple has expanded foundry ties with TSMC, who also makes ARM chips. TSMC currently builds chips with the 40nm process, unlike Samsung which is still at 45nm. TSMC is also getting ready to move to the 28nm process. This would be a big improvement over Apple's current A5 ARM chip. ARM does not disclose when or if Apple has licensed ARM designs, so we don't know if Apple is working on a modified A15, yet we know Apple has modified the Cortex A9 ARM chip, which is the basis for Apple's A5. This would lead us to believe Apple is working on a modified Cortex A15 for future iOS devices.

This new A15 processor uses a 40-bit memory address system which allows the processor to access 1TB of memory. Mobile devices don't need that kind of memory, which leads one to conclude ARM may be trying to push this new chip into the desktop and server markets as well as mobile markets. The A15 processor is still 32-bit, which will make is hard to adopt in the server which mostly relies on 64-bit applications. ARM is clearly looking to go after server and desktop market in the coming years, but will need to move to a 64-bit version in order to give Intel and AMD any serious competition.

The ARM architecture was originally designed for workstation type applications. It was only later, when Apple got involved, that a design team was spun off and an ARM processor started to be used in mobile devices. The Apple Newton was one of the first products for this new processor. Due to its original design, there are no limits to bringing this processor into the desktop and server markets.

Roadmaps often can change dramatically in six months. Apple and TSMC may also be on a different schedule so they can release an A15 based Apple chip in time for next year's iPad. A Cortex A15-based iPad 3 would give a the iPad update another major boost in performance. This performance will start to equal the smaller Macbook Air and its 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo processor. At that point, the iPad's hardware becomes fast enough to directly compete with the desktop computers for general use.
 

2 Comments

1. Robert ~ April 1, 2011 20:29
   I understand Apple doesn't want to go back to servers but once a 64-bit version is available, how difficult and expensive would it be to produce a Mac server on a card (something like a blade) device? When I see how compact the A5 is with enough circuitry to handle the server CPU portion I can't help but wonder whether it would be easy to slip 20-30 of these cards into a 1U cabinet with the backend of the cabinet left for banks of RAM, ethernet, thunderbolt and redundant power supplies. The boot "disk" would be an SSD like the MacBook Air or simple netbooted RAM. Storage disks would be the typical RAID systems. There are people who want OSX servers and one of these, upgradeable of course starting with a few cards, might be enough to drive many Mac installations.
2. Viswakarma ~ April 2, 2011 15:37
   How about making a Mac Mini Server with A15 based Apple Chip to be the next "blade equivalent" to kill the blade servers from ABC and XYZ?

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