5 ms·

Inside the iPhone 6s

96 points by shawndumas 11y ago

listic 11y ago
> This year Apple did multi-country launches ... so no more driving down to the US and queuing for hours to be sure of getting one or two. What is Apple's iPhone 6s release schedule? Apparently, they have already released it in the countries other than the US, but I still can't see any information online regarding where it was released and where it's going to, next.
- RockyMcNuts 11y ago
  Released in "Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, and the United States." http://imgur.com/wvTtvNu http://imgur.com/wvTtvNu http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/24/iphone6s-launch-kicks-off-in-new-zealand/ http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/24/iphone6s-launch-kicks-of...
  - listic 11y ago
    Thanks! Any info on the next wave of country releases?
    - glasshead969 11y ago
      Today's press release[1] announced Oct 9 as launch date for 40 more countries. Expected to hit 130 countries by end of the year. [1] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/09/28Apple-Announces-Record-iPhone-6s-iPhone-6s-Plus-Sales.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/09/28Apple-Announces-Re...
jcdavis 11y ago
Isn't 8mb of L3 cache a huge amount for a phone with 2 gigs of ram? A $260 Intel i5 6600 only has 6mb
- Symmetry 11y ago
  Cache is a way to enhance performance in a way that can come at a relatively modest cost in power if not in chip area. 8T SRAM cells don't use much power statically, increasing size increases wire capacitance but you aren't switching any more transistors than with a 4mb cache save an extra level of muxing.
- Tloewald 11y ago
  Perhaps by comparison with desktop CPUs, but since the A8 had 4MB of L3, presumably there are good reasons for Apple to include more L3 in the A9. It may well be that Apple has found that a larger L3 cache contributes more to overall performance (or power efficiency) than, say, faster clocks or more RAM.
  - jcdavis 11y ago
    Yea, I guess the interesting question is why desktop CPUs have relatively so little (I suspect the answer is Intel trying to price differentiate their Xeon chips, but who knows)
    - mikeash 11y ago
      Do desktop systems have faster RAM? That would make the cache less important if so. Just a random guess.
      - DiabloD3 11y ago
        Yes, they can. Modern mobile devices have single or dual channel, DDR3L-800 through 1600. I'm not seeing any relevant mobile devices still shipping with DDR2, although sub-$100 tablets and anything that is a router still do. Modern desktops and laptops are dual channel and DDR3-1600 and up, or now that DDR4 is a thing, DDR4-1866 or up. Gaming machines/high performance workstations are DDR3-2133 and up, or with DDR4, 2400 and up is becoming popular. LGA-2011-based stuff is quad channel, and LGA-2011 stuff can be multiple socket (its a waste not to populate dual socket E5s with at least 8 sticks).
  - 11y ago
chocks 11y ago
Wonder why they have multiple power management/amplifier modules ? : 1. Apple/Dialog 338S00120 Power Management IC 2. Qualcomm PMD9635 Power Management IC 3. Texas Instruments 65730AOP Power Management IC 4. Avago ACPM 7714 Multimode Power Amplifier 5. Avago AFEM-8030 Power Amplifier Module 6. Skyworks SKY77357 Power Amplifier Module (likely an iteration of the SKY77354) 7. Skyworks SKY77812 Power Amplifier Module
- fra 11y ago
  I think because every LTE band you want to support requires its own front end with its own power management. The iPhone 6s is as close to a universal SKU as you get with LTE so they pack lots of those.
- mbell 11y ago
  Well, the first three you mentioned are for providing power to other chips, the last 4 are RF amplifiers, they aren't really related. Why you need (or want) multiple power management ICs: they are likely powering separate zones of the board which may have very different power requirements, e.g. need different voltages, need to be able to power up or down separately, or need particularly clean power. Why you need multiple RF amplifiers: Almost all phone today run on many different cellular frequencies and protocols, a quick look at the specs indicates the iPhone 6 supports: 800Mhz, 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1700Mhz, 1800Mhz, 1900Mhz, 2000Mhz, and 2100Mhz along with various different signaling schemes. You can't handle all that in a single RF pathway.
  - samstave 11y ago
    >need to be able to power up or down separately Need to be able to power on the Data, MIC and Camera per the Court Order without waking up the rest of the phone :)

96 points by shawndumas 11y ago

> This year Apple did multi-country launches ... so no more driving down to the US and queuing for hours to be sure of getting one or two. What is Apple's iPhone 6s release schedule? Apparently, they have already released it in the countries other than the US, but I still can't see any information online regarding where it was released and where it's going to, next.

RockyMcNuts 11y ago
Released in "Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, and the United States." http://imgur.com/wvTtvNu http://imgur.com/wvTtvNu http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/24/iphone6s-launch-kicks-off-in-new-zealand/ http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/24/iphone6s-launch-kicks-of...
- listic 11y ago
  Thanks! Any info on the next wave of country releases?
  - glasshead969 11y ago
    Today's press release[1] announced Oct 9 as launch date for 40 more countries. Expected to hit 130 countries by end of the year. [1] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/09/28Apple-Announces-Record-iPhone-6s-iPhone-6s-Plus-Sales.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/09/28Apple-Announces-Re...

jcdavis 11y ago

Isn't 8mb of L3 cache a huge amount for a phone with 2 gigs of ram? A $260 Intel i5 6600 only has 6mb

Symmetry 11y ago
Cache is a way to enhance performance in a way that can come at a relatively modest cost in power if not in chip area. 8T SRAM cells don't use much power statically, increasing size increases wire capacitance but you aren't switching any more transistors than with a 4mb cache save an extra level of muxing.
Tloewald 11y ago
Perhaps by comparison with desktop CPUs, but since the A8 had 4MB of L3, presumably there are good reasons for Apple to include more L3 in the A9. It may well be that Apple has found that a larger L3 cache contributes more to overall performance (or power efficiency) than, say, faster clocks or more RAM.
- jcdavis 11y ago
  Yea, I guess the interesting question is why desktop CPUs have relatively so little (I suspect the answer is Intel trying to price differentiate their Xeon chips, but who knows)
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Do desktop systems have faster RAM? That would make the cache less important if so. Just a random guess.
    - DiabloD3 11y ago
      Yes, they can. Modern mobile devices have single or dual channel, DDR3L-800 through 1600. I'm not seeing any relevant mobile devices still shipping with DDR2, although sub-$100 tablets and anything that is a router still do. Modern desktops and laptops are dual channel and DDR3-1600 and up, or now that DDR4 is a thing, DDR4-1866 or up. Gaming machines/high performance workstations are DDR3-2133 and up, or with DDR4, 2400 and up is becoming popular. LGA-2011-based stuff is quad channel, and LGA-2011 stuff can be multiple socket (its a waste not to populate dual socket E5s with at least 8 sticks).
- 11y ago

chocks 11y ago

Wonder why they have multiple power management/amplifier modules ? : 1. Apple/Dialog 338S00120 Power Management IC 2. Qualcomm PMD9635 Power Management IC 3. Texas Instruments 65730AOP Power Management IC 4. Avago ACPM 7714 Multimode Power Amplifier 5. Avago AFEM-8030 Power Amplifier Module 6. Skyworks SKY77357 Power Amplifier Module (likely an iteration of the SKY77354) 7. Skyworks SKY77812 Power Amplifier Module

fra 11y ago
I think because every LTE band you want to support requires its own front end with its own power management. The iPhone 6s is as close to a universal SKU as you get with LTE so they pack lots of those.
mbell 11y ago
Well, the first three you mentioned are for providing power to other chips, the last 4 are RF amplifiers, they aren't really related. Why you need (or want) multiple power management ICs: they are likely powering separate zones of the board which may have very different power requirements, e.g. need different voltages, need to be able to power up or down separately, or need particularly clean power. Why you need multiple RF amplifiers: Almost all phone today run on many different cellular frequencies and protocols, a quick look at the specs indicates the iPhone 6 supports: 800Mhz, 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1700Mhz, 1800Mhz, 1900Mhz, 2000Mhz, and 2100Mhz along with various different signaling schemes. You can't handle all that in a single RF pathway.
- samstave 11y ago
  >need to be able to power up or down separately Need to be able to power on the Data, MIC and Camera per the Court Order without waking up the rest of the phone :)