Apple A9

A9 chip from TSMC

A9 chip from Samsung

The Apple A9 and the Apple A9X are two SoCs from the US company Apple , which are manufactured by Samsung (A9) and TSMC (A9 and A9X). Both were presented to the public on September 9, 2015. The A9 is used in the iPad , iPhone 6s , iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE (1st generation) , the A9X in the iPad Pro . Its successor is the Apple A10 Fusion or the A10X Fusion, the predecessor is the Apple A8 and Apple A8X .

technology

Like their predecessors, the A9 and A9X combine important computer components on one chip.

A9

A 64-bit ARMv8-A processor with two processor cores from the Twister architecture developed by Apple serves as the CPU . The processors are made by Samsung and TSMC ; the specimens manufactured by Samsung have the designation APL0898 and are manufactured in the 14 nm process , the APL1022 manufactured by TSMC in the 16 nm process. In the first tests, the chips manufactured by TSMC are more energy efficient; how big the difference is between the two models is still unclear. The L2 cache has been increased from 1 MB to 3 MB compared to the Typhoon CPU, the L3 cache is still 4 MB in size. The CPU is clocked at 1.85 GHz. The GPU is a GT7600 with 6 shader clusters from the PowerVR 7XT series from Imagination Technologies. The size of the APL0898 is 96 mm², the APL1022 104.5 mm².

The main memory is 2 GB LPDDR4 , which is connected via a 64-bit bus. The M9 coprocessor, which is also advertised, is embedded in the A9 chip. The main memory and the A9 form a PoP, the entire A9 package has the dimensions 14.5 × 15 mm.

A9X

Compared to the A9, Apple has dispensed with an L3 cache in the A9X; the externally connected LPDDR4 memory is accessed in the iPad Pro with a 128-bit bus, it is 4 GB in size. In the iPad Pro 9.7, the bus width is only 64 bits and the size is 2 GB. The otherwise identical CPU with two Twister cores is clocked at 2.26 GHz, the die size is 147 mm². The GPU is a variant from the PowerVR 7XT series with 12 shader clusters, which Imagination Technologies does not offer publicly as an IP core. Production takes place at TSMC and the SoC is named APL1021 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joshua Ho: iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus Preliminary Results. In: anandtech.com on September 28, 2015.
2. ↑ Ryan Smith: Apple's A9 SoC Is Dual Sourced From Samsung & TSMC. In: anandtech.com on September 28, 2015.
3. ↑ Ryan Smith and Joshua Ho: Analyzing Apple's Statement on TSMC and Samsung A9 SoCs. In: anandtech.com on October 9, 2015.
4. ↑ ^{a b} iFixit iPhone 6s teardown
5. ↑ Wasson, Scott in techreport: Here's your Apple A9 and A9X confusion thread . September 9, 2015, accessed September 10, 2015.
6. ↑ Apple: iPhone 6s Tech Specs

Web links

• More on Apple's A9X SoC , AnandTech on November 30, 2015