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The funny thing is, Apple's CPUs are manufactured by Samsung. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A5

• mikeryan 16y ago
  Can Samsung use the A5 in their devices? Or do they just manufacture them for Apple.
  • kenjackson 16y ago
    Samsung's Exynos already appears to be a better chip than the A5. But Samsung's (and everyone besides Apple) issue isn't CPU power, it's software and ecosystem.
    • potatolicious 16y ago
      I'd add one more item to that list: hardware design. And I'm not talking merely aesthetics - I know a few hardware engineers who have torn down iPads, iPhones, Galaxy Tabs, etc, and the consensus is clear: Apple excels at materials use and space optimization in a way that none of the major OEMs do right now.
      • alperakgun 16y ago
        i agree that anybody except apple excels at hardware design, however both ipad and ipad 2 are not at all impressive in terms of what apple could have offered in hardware in 2010 and 2011;
        • potatolicious 16y ago
          Compared to everyone else, Apple is miles ahead - and I'm not talking abou features and specs. Hearing from some of my hardware friends, Apple's hardware is built like a tank - in terms of design, manufacturing precision, and use of materials. Crack open a Samsung phone and you'll find lots of plastic, lots of empty space, lack of structural rigidity, and even things like antennae haphazardly taped down to the casing. I don't think this is a case of can or cannot, these phones, laptops, and tablets are coming out of the same factories Apple products are - it really seems to be a matter of priorities. Apple spends an enormous amount of effort on making their machines beautifully designed, inside and out, whereas most OEMs seem merely content with the outside.
        • ceejayoz 16y ago
          Impressive hardware tends to come with unimpressive battery life.
    • ugh 16y ago
      Apple’s A5 contains either a Cortex-A9 or two Cortex-A8 cores (one of those is also in Apple’s A4) stuffed together, right? (Apple has the stupidest naming scheme ever for their SoCs, do they want to be deliberately confusing?) Samsung’s Exynos has a Cortex-A9 and could consequently be a bit faster, at least if Apple’s A5 contains two Cortex-A8 cores (which seems pretty likely considering that Apple only touted a 2x improvement, they could brag a bit more if their SoC had Cortex-A9 cores). I’m wondering whether this is just Apple being conservative or whether there is some other reason. Power usage maybe?
      • kenjackson 16y ago
        My take, with no supporting evidence, is that Apple stuffed two A8 into the A5. I suspect they couldn't get the production guarantees they needed for the A9s in this time frame. And this will give them headroom for a nice speed bump if they do an iPad3 in the fall.
        • glhaynes 16y ago
          If iPad 3 has a retina display, it'll need a lot more power to even feel the same speed as the second-gen one with so many more pixels being pushed around. So yeah it'd make sense to not go all out on iPad 2 performance, since it still appears to get a nice performance boost compared to the original.
• protomyth 16y ago
  That has to be one of the worst wikipedia articles in a long time. They talk about notability, but they should talk about basing a whole article on rumors reported by journalists. Notable source reporting rumor is still rumor.