Chipworks’ ongoing analysis of the Apple TV’s new A5 →
It’s not a die shrink, and it’s still manufactured by Samsung. But it’s single-core:
If we compare this with the earlier 32-nm APL2498 part, it looks as though we now have a single-core ARM A9 CPU, together with a dual-core GPU as in the APL2498. The Apple TV has always been 1-core, but the APL2498 had one core disabled – maybe Apple now thinks that sales will be enough to justify a dedicated part, or maybe we are going to see another single-core device in a different product line.
To get the almost 50% die size reduction that we have, though, there has to be more than removal of one core – other changes have been made. As yet we haven’t quantified them.
This is getting interesting again.
Knowing Apple, this revised, single-core A5 wasn’t made only for the Apple TV. The big question, then: Where else might Apple want to use a small, cheap, single-core A5?
I’d guess it’s still too big and power-hungry for a watch, but if they want to shave component costs down for a low-cost iPhone or an even cheaper iPad Mini, this could be a good CPU candidate.