Rumor: iPhone 5 to Feature Quad-core CPU from Samsung

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]Kami3k[/nom]FRAND.[/citation]
FRAND has nothing to do with them working together, Samsung makes the chips for Apple that is not a FRAND issue that is a money issue and Apple brings a lot of money to Samsung. As for Apple the thing is that Samsung is really the only single company that can keep up with the chip quantities that Apple needs.

 

[kinggremlin]

[citation][nom]Kapper[/nom]How could Apple and Samsung possibly work together on this after the legal battle over tablets? Makes no sense as each company wants the other gone.[/citation]

Apple is Samsung's largest customer. If either company refused to do business with the other it would significantly hurt both companies financially. Shake your hand while stabbing you in the back with the other. That's how the business world works.

 

[jcurry23]

They won't call this the iPhone 5, it will be called iPhone 4s2

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]ben850[/nom]4 cores in are only needed in gaming rigs. Not cell phones.If they have made their CPU's efficient enough to add in 4 cores, they should just stick to 2 cores and allow the cores to overclock themselves higher on demand.[/citation]

Four cores are only useful in a gaming rig? That's one of the most incorrect statements that I've ever read. Gaming rigs don't necessarily need four cores and smart phones can utilize four cores if devs want to. Furthermore, core count does not define performance. They could be four weak cores to save power compared to two or three stronger cores.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]I have yet to see a mobile software that uses quad-cores. Heck, many of the laptop/desktop software are just starting to use quad-cores.[/citation]

There has to be some, but yeah, I wouldn't call it a common thing. However, four cores can probably leverage a lot of work at once so long as they aren't very slow cores.

 

[Guest]

The reason why there are no quad core S4 chips is because TSMC has massively fucked up their 28nm LP process and can't deliver Qualcomm enough silicon.

 

[heero yuy]

its going to be called the iphone 5? last time i looked some chinese company had brought one out and apple has not yet sued them (thinks: i'm sure i read somewhere that the chinese goverment had dreamt up some law to stop lawsuits from crippleing their copying industry)

 

[snotling]

[citation][nom]SlitelyOff[/nom]Why don't quad cores work with LTE? What does a signal/communication protocol have to do with the number of CPU's?[/citation]
they do, but it drains the battery a lot. also, for small handheld devices there is only so much a multicore CPU can do (at this point in time) even desktops do well with dual cores and they have a much heavier workload than handheld devices. so right now its a race at the top to see who will have the quad core phone and everything but once at the top you just ask: now what?

 

[snotling]

[citation][nom]jcurry23[/nom]They won't call this the iPhone 5, it will be called iPhone 4s2[/citation]
I'm thinking the iPhone Galaxy 4S

 

[bennaye]

so many people saying how peculiar it is for samsung to be sniffing up apple's tree, or vice versa...the fact is that money is what matters in the end, and by doing business with each other both companies get lots of it, in one way or another.

also, battery life is a key concern with smartphones. millions of people lament the fact that they have to charge it everyday compared to, say, a nokia from the 90s. a quad core will most likely hurt the phone in this regard, since each core requires power to be running. a dual core is pretty sufficient, but who knows?

 

[dheadley]

Why would they go with Samsungs Quad-core technology? They haven't used Samsungs technologies in past A series chips and in truth Samsung uses Apple technology in their processors in the form of Intrinsity IP.

Apple will use their own engineers to develope their own SoC with Intrinisty power management, Power VR graphics, Audience audio processing, etc. same as they did with the A4, A5 and A5X.

Samsung will once again be nothing more than the foundry.

 

[tntom]

[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]So why does LTE eats 2 cores?[/citation]

The Quad core Samsung Exynos in the GS3 does not support LTE on a single chip. The Dual core Qualcomm S4 does have an LTE radio on a single chip. Battery drain tests between the US SGS3 with LTE (AT&T) and without LTE (Tmobile) do not differ by very much. The upcoming Galaxy Note2 is supposed to have Quad core with LTE radio integrated on the same die as the CPU which will debut at the same time as the iPhone5 comes out.

It is all about SOC (system on a chip). It is very very complex to include the radio in one chip with the CPU. Designing it is easy for any engineer but the testing and retesting for RF interference between components that close to each other takes a lot of trial and error.

 

[Guest]

Do you really think it will be a quad core? When has apple actually put the latest and greatest in their product at a price equal to that of the tech?.. Keep in mind this product will be sub
$1000. If anything I would be placing my bet on something from Intel.

 

[del35]

Soon we will be reading in the for morons media how Steve Jobs invented quad core phones.

 

[jn77]

So what exactly is screwed up with the US 4G LTE that quad core CPU's are not compatible with them? That almost sounds as stupid as the hole antenna problem the Iphones had? seriously. I am looking at a Galaxy S III and the only thing the US Version is missing is that quad core processor. Apparently the PHD's these engineers have aren't helping them any.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]jn77[/nom]So what exactly is screwed up with the US 4G LTE that quad core CPU's are not compatible with them? That almost sounds as stupid as the hole antenna problem the Iphones had? seriously. I am looking at a Galaxy S III and the only thing the US Version is missing is that quad core processor. Apparently the PHD's these engineers have aren't helping them any.[/citation]

Four cores probably take up a fairly high amount of space, especially with some quad core ARMS having a fifth core. It might be hard to integrate a 4G radio without stretching the size of the chip and even if that's not the problem, four cores and such might make significantly more interference or at least be related to greater interference. There's also the power consumption to keep in mind. If any of these are the reasons behind the issue, then a die shrink might at least help, although it would be a complex and probably difficult undertaking, especially with TSMC's 28nm woes on multiple processes of that size.

 

[jn77]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]Four cores probably take up a fairly high amount of space, especially with some quad core ARMS having a fifth core. It might be hard to integrate a 4G radio without stretching the size of the chip and even if that's not the problem, four cores and such might make significantly more interference or at least be related to greater interference. There's also the power consumption to keep in mind. If any of these are the reasons behind the issue, then a die shrink might at least help, although it would be a complex and probably difficult undertaking, especially with TSMC's 28nm woes on multiple processes of that size.[/citation]


I understand what you are saying but it still sounds a little fishy for a number of reasons... 1. The exact same phone in all other countries has the quad core chip. 2. Typically the more cores you have the more efficient each core is and each core uses less power over all. 3. Adding more cores "should not" cause more interference, it is the clock frequency that would cause the interference so it is just a matter of either lowering (easier) or raising the clock frequency out of the range of interference.

 

[monkeymonk]

[citation][nom]ben850[/nom]4 cores in are only needed in gaming rigs. Not cell phones.If they have made their CPU's efficient enough to add in 4 cores, they should just stick to 2 cores and allow the cores to overclock themselves higher on demand.[/citation] and even in gaming rigs it isnt necessary thanks to consoles

 

[g-unit1111]

[citation][nom]jn77[/nom]So what exactly is screwed up with the US 4G LTE that quad core CPU's are not compatible with them? That almost sounds as stupid as the hole antenna problem the Iphones had? seriously. I am looking at a Galaxy S III and the only thing the US Version is missing is that quad core processor. Apparently the PHD's these engineers have aren't helping them any.[/citation]

I have a Galaxy S2 and it's the best phone I've ever had. It's leaps and bounds better than iPhone - no antenna problems, nothing.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]monkeymonk[/nom]and even in gaming rigs it isnt necessary thanks to consoles[/citation]

Actually, that's one thing that the consoles had nothing to do with, but you'll probably blame it on them anyway. The console's GPUs are the problems, not the CPUs which are actually still fairly capable.