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Apple surprises with A8X GPU, uses exclusive ‘semi-custom’ 8 cluster design

New chip analysis of the A8X powering the iPad Air 2 has revealed that it is even more powerful than it initially appeared.

Further analysis by AnandTech showed that initial guesses as to the GPU specification of the Apple A8X chip, exclusively available in the iPad Air 2, were wrong. In fact, the chip uses a unique 8 cluster design. AnandTech describes the discovery as “even better than I thought”. Although the customizations are limited, this represents a big step for the company as it is now dabbling in both custom CPU and GPU engineering, even if the leap over generally-available components in this instance is small.

Effectively, Apple has engineered a way to stick two Imagination GX6450 PowerVR chips on the same die. A die shot sourced by AnandTech confirmed this theory, although the site is unable to publish the image. Shown above is a mockup of what is going on internally.

This is how AnandTech describes Apple’s customizations:

While Apple licenses PowerVR GPU cores, not unlike their ARM IP license they are free to modify the Imagination designs to fit their needs, resulting in an unusual semi-custom aspect to their designs (and explaining what Apple has been doing with so many GPU engineers over the last couple of years). In this case it appears that Apple has taken the GX6450 design and created a new design from it, culminating in an 8 cluster Series6XT design. Officially this design has no public designation – while it’s based on an Imagination design it is not an official Imagination design, and of course Apple doesn’t reveal codenames – but for the sake of simplicity we are calling it the GXA6850.

Apple’s willingness to change even this is a strong indicator that it will be even more aggressive with GPU designs in future Apple SOC’s. When the A8X was first revealed, it surprised with a triple-core CPU design and 2GB of RAM. Combined, the tablet represents a huge leap in performance over its predecessor.

In fact, the performance improvements are disproportionate to the hardware leading some speculation that the company has upcoming software enhancements to truly take advantage of the compute beefiness. Apple has been testing a split-screen multitasking system for the iPad, which would certainly do just that.

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Comments

  1. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    This renews and fuels my hopes and expectations that this iPad will support a true Hi-Res, split-screen display once iOS 8.X is updated to allow it!

    Nicely done, Apple! Kudos to the Hardware Team!

  2. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    Seems surprisingly ahead of its time.

  3. FAME © - 9 years ago

    Amazing as ever, and to think, IMG just announced their next generation Series7XT GPU designs as well as new MIPS CPU (which I suspect Apple will transition to, having the freedom to customize even further) both of which offer 60% greater performance than current ARM and Series6XT designs.

    Thanks to IMG Apple will forever be untouchable in the mobile performance space. Already they were 2 years ahead with 64-bit transition, now these recently announced chips have already made Snapdragon 810, Nvidia M1, Exynos 7 utterly irrelevant. 60% boost in performance alone takes 2 years to achieve.

    Theoretically, Apple would be 4 years ahead if they transition to MIPS and Series 7XT next year, even more reason for people to skip out on this year’s products. A8X already matched Intel’s i5-4200U, these chips have surpassed Broadwell M. I guess the rumors were true, SoC based Macs are on the way.

    • FAME © - 9 years ago

      I remain disappointed with iPhone A8, though. If I had to extract reason for going in that direction it’d be simply that the larger die size was impractical and that performance from 2 cores was enough for this year with the competition lagging behind.

      I am confident Apple will completely revamp iPhone’s internal structure next year and perhaps even go slightly larger (5″ and 6″) to accommodate more powerful designs. MIPS is not only more efficient and powerful and scalable than ARMv8, it is much smaller so it makes sense for Apple to select IMG for both CPU and GPU design.

      The last time I was this excited about something Apple did was iPhone 4. Next year will truly be worth skipping 4 generations of iPhone. iPad Air 2 remains tempting, but the leaps that will be made in next years products (if I’m right) we’ll be well worth waiting for – we’re talking desktop performance here.

  4. lycius84 - 9 years ago

    I have no regrets upgrading to the iPad Air 2. While I would prefer a mini with the same specs due to portability prefrence. The Air 2 is a huge upgrade for me over the 1st gen mini.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      I wonder what the first generation Air would be like if it had 2GB RAM. Just using Safari and not having constant tab reloads makes me wonder why we didn’t get that years ago. Surely adding another gig of RAM can’t be that expensive.

    • giskardian - 9 years ago

      My only problem with the Air2 is that its low pixel density is no good for reading. I’m using a 325ppi tablet now and going to 264ppi and pixelated text would be quite a sacrifice.

      There’s the iPad Mini, but it’s display is stuck back in 2010 with its 65% color gamut.

      So basically Apple still offers no tablet for those who need a high end display for reading. I’ve had money set aside since the Retina iPad Mini came out to buy one once it had a decent display, and I guess I’ll keep waiting, but damn does Apple try my patience at times.

      • inquiblog - 9 years ago

        yes, reading on 264ppi is disgusting, that’s why all ebook readers have more than 264ppi! (or may be not!)

      • Fallenjt JT - 9 years ago

        Yup…it mentally sacrifice the resolution even though at 15″ distance, human eyes can’t even see the pixels at 264 ppi. Or maybe it’s just you because I was at Apple store and Air 2 screen look a lot better than Air with the same resolution and I would say it’s even better than Mini 2. Go check for yourself. I love how Apple laminate the screen to glass making icons float to the surface of the screen. Awesome.

      • jrox16 - 9 years ago

        How in the world can you make out pixelization on an iPad Air or Air2 screen? Either you are reading with the tablet like 6″ away from your eyes (in which case you really do need glasses) or you have super human hawk like vision beyond comprehension. I have perfect vision up to 3 feet and can’t see a single jagged edge or pixel holding the Air at a normal 14 inches from my face.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.