Apple A5

Apple A5 chip S5L8940

Apple A5X chip

Apple A5 is the brand name of four different System-on-a-Chips used by Apple in several iOS devices . They are all made by Samsung . The A5 chips combine a ARM - the main processor of the type Cortex A9 with a PowerVR - GPU and also take over the functions of a conventional PC chipset . The designation Apple A5 or A5X is often used alone for the ARM processor, but this is not correct. The A5 is one of the S5L SoCs .

The first A5 chip was introduced in March 2011 as part of the iPad 2. In addition to the iPad 2, this variant only occurs in the iPhone 4s. Further revisions were installed in subsequent Apple devices.

The predecessor of the A5 is the Apple A4 , the successor is the Apple A6 .

technology

There are a total of four different revisions of the A5 chip. Each revision has a 32 KiB data and 32 KiB instruction cache, plus a 1024 KiB level 2 cache. All A5 chips can use the ARMv7 instruction set .

A5

The Apple A5 comes in a total of three different versions, which were presented between March 2011 and the beginning of 2013. It is used in the following products:

• iPad 2 (2011): first version (45 nm S5L8940)
• iPad 2.4 (2012): Revision A (32 nm S5L8942)
• iPhone 4s (2011): first version (45 nm S5L8940)
• Apple TV 3 (2012): Revision A (32 nm S5L8942), one core deactivated
• iPod touch 5th Generation (2012): Revision A (32 nm S5L8942)
• iPad mini (2012): Revision A (32 nm S5L8942)
• Apple TV 3 Rev A (2013): Revision B (32 nm S5L8947)
• iPad 3 (2012): A5X (45 nm S5L8945)

A5 (first version)

The first A5 chip, the S5L8940, was introduced on March 2, 2011 as part of the iPad 2. It has 512 MB SDRAM memory and two ARM - Cortex A9 - processor cores . The clock frequency is variable and is adjusted to the requirements of the device by iOS. The core clock of the ARM Cortex A9 is normally 1.2 GHz, but Apple has lowered it. The standard clock rate of both cores is 1 GHz in the iPad 2 and  800 MHz in the iPhone 4s. Benchmarks show a performance increase of at least 56% compared to the A4 SoC in the first generation iPad, which is also clocked with 1 GHz. The first A5 is produced using the 45 nm process . Due to the second core, it is 12.1 × 10.1 mm larger than the A4 (7.3 × 7.3 mm). As GPU one is PowerVR SGX 543MP2 with two processor cores from Imagination Technologies used. These have a core clock of 200 MHz.

A5 revision A

The A5 Revision A S5L8942 was introduced with the 3rd generation Apple TV on March 7, 2012. It hardly differs from the first A5, with the exception that the A5 Rev A is manufactured using the 32 nm process. This reduces the footprint by approx. 40% to 69 mm ² and the power consumption is reduced. A Cortex-A9 processor core has been deactivated in the A5 Rev A of the 3rd generation Apple TV. In addition to the 3rd generation Apple TV, the iPad mini , the 5th generation iPod touch and the iPad 2.4 introduced in April 2012 use the A5 Rev A. In tests by Anandtech, the S5L8942 in the iPad 2.4 15-30% longer battery life.

A5 revision B

The A5 Revision B with the designation S5L8947 was introduced at the beginning of 2013 with the Apple TV 3G Revision A (AppleTV3,2) and was only used there. The A5 Rev B is the only A5 chip that has just one processor core and an external memory connection. A PowerVR SGX 543MP1 was used as the graphics processor. The reason for the introduction of revision B was a cheaper manufacturing process, as the revision A chip used up to that point had two processor cores, one of which was not required in the ATV 3G and was therefore deactivated. The production also took place in the 32 nm process, the chip had the ID APL7498 and the size of the die was 37.8 mm².

A5X

The A5X-S5L8945 chip is only found in the 3rd generation iPad . It was presented together with this in spring 2012. Like the first A5, the A5X is manufactured using the 45 nm process. However, it uses 1024 MB SDRAM memory and the GPU is the PowerVR SGX 543MP4 graphics chip, which has four processor cores also clocked at 200 MHz. According to Apple, this offers twice the graphics performance compared to the 543MP2 used in the A5. Due to the increased heat generation, the housing of the processor had to be made of metal for better heat radiation. The dimensions of the chip are 12.82 mm × 12.71 mm, which results in a base area of ​​162.94 mm ² .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Apple presents iPad 2, iMovie and GarageBand for iOS 4.3 , maclife.de on March 2nd, 2011.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Anand Lal Shimpi: Apple TV 2013 (A1469) Short Review: Analysis of a New A5. Anandtech.com, March 15, 2013.
3. ↑ Product specification on apple.com ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Apple A5 vs A4 Floorplan Comparison ( memento of the original from March 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , chipworks.com on March 14, 2011  
5. ↑ iPad 2 benchmarks show impressive gains over original model , tuaw.com on March 14, 2011
6. ↑ The Apple iPad 2 ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , TechInsights on March 14, 2011  
7. ↑ Apple iPad 2 GPU Performance Explored: PowerVR SGX543MP2 Benchmarked , anandtech.com on March 12, 2011
8. ↑ Apple secretly releases a new A5 chip. Extremetech.com.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Anand Lai Shimpi: The iPad 2.4 Review: 32nm Brings Better Battery Life At: Anandtech.com. May 4, 2012, Retrieved May 13, 2012.
10. ↑ Apple: Technical data for Apple TV ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 8, 2012. 
11. ↑ Smaller A5 in the new Apple TV. , Heise.de, accessed on July 5, 2013.
12. ↑ A5X and A6 chip appeared in the code of iOS 5.1 , accessed on July 5, 2013.
13. ↑ Apple Special Event (mp4 video; at approx. 28: 55min) ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. March 7, 2012, Retrieved May 13, 2012.