It seems that the iPhone 5′s A6 processor is actually much more in-house in design than any of the previous A series chips before it, at least according to Anandtech. In the past, Apple has stuck pretty close to pure ARM (the company) designs.

This time around though, the A6 is based on Apple’s own ARM CPU core, not the ARM Cortex A15. This means that Apple is much more knowledgeable when it comes to processor design than ever before.

Why does it matter? For Apple it means more profits. Building your own in-house chips is much cheaper than buying chips externally. It could also spell trouble for Intel. If in-house ARM designs prove possible, there could be a time when Apple ditches x86 processor in favor of their own custom ARMs.

For those that remember, in 2006 Apple made the move from PowerPC processors to Intel. Six years and another move might seem rather quick turn around. As iOS and the AppStore evolves, its possible that Apple might eventually find that switching to the low-power consumption ARM processor might be the best move for the company.

Keep in mind this is pure speculation at this point. Having a Macbook AIR that used ARM processors and a variant of iOS would certainly yield better battery life, but it could also lead to cannibalization between the iPad and the Air (which is already happening, somewhat).

What do you think? Could Apple’s future lay with in-house ARM processors?

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The leaked photo shown here depicts what is believed to be the logic board for the iPad 3. And the chip there is clearly labeled as A5X, rather than the A6 model name that we had expected to follow the A5 chip in the iPad 2.

From here, we can venture a pretty good guess that this new processor is likely just an upgraded version of the A5, rather than an entirely new architecture like how the A5 improved on the A4 before it. This kind of scheme is the same as what they did with the iPhone when it went from the 3G to the 3GS and later when it went from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S.

But why didn’t they add “S” like how they did with the iPhone models? Think about that for a moment. It would end up being called the A5S, which is almost a 1337 (“leet”) spelling of ASS. Yeah, that wouldn’t go over so well, now would it?

The post First Look at the A5X Processor for Apple iPad 3? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

With CES just around the corner, Apple’s announcements are nearly always strategically positioned just a few weeks afterwards. When that happens we can always assume that the Cupertino company is going to one up everyone else just when they believed they had come out with something new and revolutionary.  Even while CES is happening Apple is usually stealing the show with their leaks and rumors of what is up and coming. 2012 is no exception.

This time around it may be bigger than we think. Although the A5 was released in the iPad 2, it wasn’t available in an Apple iPhone until the recently released iPhone 4s. Now with that said, the dual-core A5 chip is speedy enough to handle Siri and a whole multitude of resource hungry apps. But if the recent discovery of some clever developers is to be believed, Apple may be coming out with quad-core A6 chips sooner, rather than later.

These developers have uncovered something in the iOS 5.1 beta code that indicates support for quad-core iPhones and iPads. A few months back developers discovered the iPhone 5.1 reference buried within the iOS 5.1 beta code, now it’s this.

Does this mean we will hear about an iPhone 5 announcement soon? Will that iPhone 5 have a quad-core A6 processor? It’s all speculation at this time.  Apple could have put this code in to make competitors nervous, but Apple is a company that actually does things, rather than making it look like their doing things. If this evidence of a quad-core A6 supported in iOS 5.1 beta software is to believed, we can assume it’s really coming.

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Yes, everyone is still talking about the iPhone 4S (and talking to Siri), but that doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten about the next true generation of Apple’s smartphone. We all know that the iPhone 5 has to be in the works, but what will it look like? Designer Antonio De Rosa has taken it upon himself to show you what could be the new iPhone 5.

Coming by way of ADR Studio, De Rosa had previously shown off his iWatch concept. For his iPhone 5 concept, he culled together the most current rumors and put them together in a clever package. That includes an aluminum or “liquid metal” unibody type body, a capacitive home button in an oval-like shape, a larger 4.3-inch screen that goes nearly edge to edge, an upgraded Apple A6 dual-core processor, and improved versions of both iOS 5 and iCloud.

I don’t know about you, but the stretched out iPhone 5 is starting to look a fair bit like the Android superphones that are out there with their 4+ inch displays. Something like the HTC EVO 4G (sorta, but not really). The edge to edge display looks nice, but I’m not sure I’m a fan of that grey-ish curved back. What do you think? Is this going to be the first iPhone in a post-Jobs era in Cupertino?

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