Apple A5
The A5 processor
|
|
| Produced | From March 11, 2011 to September 8, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Apple Inc. |
| Common manufacturer(s) | |
| Max. CPU clock rate | 0.8 GHz to 1 GHz |
| Min. feature size | 45 nm to 32 nm |
| Instruction set | ARM, Thumb-2 |
| Microarchitecture | ARM Cortex-A9 |
| Product code | S5L8940X (45 nm) S5L8942X (32 nm) S5L8947X (Single core, 32 nm) |
| Cores | 1 (Apple TV (3rd generation Rev A)) 2 (iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad mini, iPod touch (5th generation), Apple TV (3rd generation) (one core disabled)) |
| L1 cache | 32 KB instruction + 32 KB data |
| L2 cache | 1 MB |
| Predecessor | Apple A4 |
| Successor | Apple A6 |
| GPU | PowerVR SGX543MP2 (dual-core) |
| Application | Mobile |
| Variant |
|
The Apple A5 is a 32-bit system-on-a-chip designed by Apple Inc. and manufactured by Samsung and is the successor to the Apple A4. The A5 commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad 2 tablet, and also powers the iPhone 4S, iPod Touch fifth generation, Apple TV third generation, and the iPad mini. This is consistent with how Apple debuted the A4 chip: first in the original iPad, followed by the iPhone 4, and then the iPod Touch (fourth generation). Apple claims that compared to its predecessor, the A4, the A5 CPU "can do twice the work" and the GPU has "up to nine times the graphics performance".
The A5 consists of a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with NEON SIMD accelerator and a dual core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Apple lists the A5 to be clocked at 1 GHz on the iPad 2's technical specifications page, though it can dynamically adjust its frequency to save battery life. The unit used in the iPhone 4S is clocked at approximately 800 MHz. Apple has also included an image signal processor unit (ISP) that will do advanced image post-processing such as face detection, white balance and automatic image stabilization and an "earSmart" unit from Audience for noise canceling.
When the A5 was first released, it was estimated at that time to cost 75% more than the previous generation, with the difference expected to diminish as production increased. As of August 2012[update], the A5 is manufactured at Samsung's Austin, Texas factory. Samsung invested $3.6 billion in the Austin facility to produce chips such as processors, and nearly all of that facility's output is dedicated to Apple components. Samsung has invested a further $4.2 billion at the Austin facility in order to transition to a 28 nm fabrication process by the second half of 2013.
...
Wikipedia