Details on the Apple A4 SOC

The Apple iPad uses the A4 System on a Chip that integrates the CPU, the GPU and other functions on one piece of silicon.

Bright Side of News describes this new chip...

A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon - not unlike what Intel is trying to achieve with its future "Moorestown" Atom processor that debuted inside LG's Smartphone.


BSN notes that the difference between the Samsung processor inside the iPhone 3Gs and A4 is the clockspeed and the core type. The A4 operates at 1GHz while the chip on iPhone 3GS is clocked to 0.6GHz.

Apple is likely clocking the A9 core to 1GHz since this is the thermal sweetspot of the core. The maximum achievable clock of the A9 is actually 1.3 GHz.

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