Apple A10 Fusion

Top view of an Apple A10 Fusion

The Apple A10 Fusion and the Apple A10X Fusion are single-chip systems from the US company Apple , which are manufactured by the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC . The A10 Fusion was presented to the public on September 7, 2016 and is used in the iPhone 7 , iPhone 7 Plus , iPad (2018) and iPod touch (2019). The A10X Fusion was presented on June 5, 2017 and is used in the iPad Pro 10.5 " , the iPad Pro 12.9" (2017) and the Apple TV 4K . Its successor is the Apple A11 Bionic and its predecessor is the Apple A9 .

technology

Like their predecessors, the A10 and A10X combine important computer components on one chip.

A10

The CPU is an ARMv8 -A processor with two pairs of cores, one pair of which contains a performance and an energy-optimized processor core . A performance controller developed by Apple is supposed to ensure the appropriate use of the appropriate core in the respective core pair for the application, but only one core is always active.

The manufactured example is called APL1W24 and is manufactured in a TSMC 16 nm FinFET process.

The performance-optimized CPU cores, whose architecture bears the name Hurricane , have a maximum clock frequency of 2.34  GHz . The L1 cache (data and instructions) is 64 KB each, the shared L2 cache is 3 MB. According to Apple, the CPU performance has increased by 40% compared to its predecessor, the A9. The energy-optimized CPU cores, whose architecture bears the name Zephyr , should only consume a fifth of the energy of the powerful cores, according to Apple. Its clock rate is 1.05 GHz, the L1 cache (data and instructions) holds 32 KB each.

The GPU with 6 shader clusters is a modified variant from the PowerVR 7XT series from Imagination Technologies. According to Apple, the GPU performance should have increased by 50% compared to the A9, with a simultaneous reduction in power consumption by a third.

A shared system cache of 4 MB is available to the SoC. The die size is about 3.3 billion transistors 125 mm². Integrated with the SoC in TSMC's InFO packaging are four  LPDDR4 RAM modules, with 2 GB for the iPhone 7 and iPad 2018 and 3 GB for the iPhone 7 Plus and iPad 2019.

A10X

Compared to the A10, Apple has increased the number of core pairs in the A10X to three each and increased the shared L2 cache to 8 MB. The externally connected 4 GB LPDDR4 main memory (3 GB in the Apple TV 4K) is accessed via a 128-bit bus. Apple states a 30% increase in performance compared to its predecessor, the A9X.

The GPU is a modified variant from the PowerVR 7XT series with 12 shader clusters. According to Apple, the GPU performance is up 40% over the A9X.

The SoC is called APL1071 , has a size of 96.4 mm² and is manufactured by TSMC in a 10 nm FinFET process.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SpecOut | Tech Research Engine. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on August 28, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
2. ↑ Apple TV 4K teardown. September 25, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2019 . 

Web links

• Apple iPhone 7 teardown , chipworks on September 15, 2016 - offline
• The Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Review: System Performance , anandtech on October 10, 2016
• http://www.golem.de/news/a10-fusion-apple-baut-erstmals-chip-mit-vier-asymmetrischen-kernen-1609-123154.html
• http://www.maclife.de/news/iphone-7-apples-a10-fusion-deutlich-schneller-android-konbewerb-10084110.html