Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained,and today we’re going to explore the history of Apple processors
There are four differentseries which power devices from the iPhone to the Apple TV, and may one day power yournext MacBook, but we’ll talk about that later
This topic was the winner of last weeksvoting poll and if you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way thevoting polls will show up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’dlike to see next
Now before we get started I want to thankX-VPN for sponsoring this video
If you guys don’t already use a VPN, now is a good timeto start since you can download X-VPN for free on your mobile device, but I recommendpaying the low $5
99 monthly fee for their premium service since you’ll get VPN supporton up to 10 devices, whether they’re mobile devices or desktop computers
And what doesX-VPN do exactly? Well it gives you complete anonymity on the web which eliminates vulnerabilitieson open wifi networks and prevents your internet activity from being monitored by ISPs or governmentagencies
You’ll also have access to fast VPN servers in 25 different countries whichmeans your favorite shows on Netflix or Hulu won’t be geo-blocked while traveling abroad
Also, X-VPN will unblock websites that are restricted at your school or workplace, whichis one of my favorite features
So I highly recommend you give X-VPN a try today by clickingthe link in the description
So most of us know that Apple’s a companywho embraces proprietary technology
While other companies outsource, Apple keeps thingsin-house whenever possible, and the chips found in iOS devices are no exception
WhileSamsung, Microsoft, and HTC rely on Qualcomm and Intel for chipsets, Apple has its ownteam of engineers to work on proprietary designs exclusive to their devices
And it all startedin 2008 when Apple purchased a small semiconductor company called P
A
Semi for a rumored $278million in cash
Well, it technically started a little earlierthan that
Because prior to the introduction of the Apple "A" series chipset, Apple designedseveral system-on-a-chips in early versions of the iPhone and iPod touch that were manufacturedby Samsung
These chipsets integrated a single ARM-based processing core or CPU, a graphicsprocessing unit or GPU, and other electronics necessary to provide mobile computing functionsinside a single package
The first of these system-on-a-chips was usedin the first iPhone in 2007
It was called the APL0098 and included a 412 MHz single-coreARM11 CPU and a PowerVR MBX Lite GPU on a 90 nm process
Now that probably sounded likea bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but this technology is what enabled mobile devices to become powerfulpocket computers that we can’t live without today
This chipset received three upgrades,the first was at the end of 2008 which included a faster 533 MHz CPU which was used by thesecond gen iPod Touch
The second in mid 2009 which again saw its CPU upgraded, but thistime to 600 MHz which was included in the iPhone 3GS
And the final upgrade of thisseries took place at the end of 2009 and featured a smaller footprint in order to fit insidethe slim third-generation iPod touch
Now we can talk about the more popular seriesof processors that Apple has featured in their recent devices
And they’re the A series,S series, W series, and T series
Now you might be wondering why Apple developed fourseparate chipsets, and it’s because Apple’s different devices have different needs
Let’sstart with the A series
The Apple A4 was based on the ARM processorarchitecture and contained an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core paired with a PowerVR SGX 535 graphicsprocessor built on Samsung's 45-nanometer silicon
Although it delivered a clock speedof 1GHz for the first gen iPad, this speed was reduced to 800 MHz when used in the iPhone4 and fourth-gen iPod touch, likely to save battery life
And this A4 chipset was alsoincluded in the Apple TV, but its clock speed was never revealed by Apple
In March 2011, Apple revealed the updatedA5 chipset with the release of the iPad 2
Followed by its inclusion in the iPhone 4slater that year
Apple claimed that the A5’s updated CPU "could do twice the work" andits GPU had "up to nine times the graphics performance
” This huge jump in performancewas mainly because of the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with ARM's advanced SIMD extension, marketedas NEON
And a dual core PowerVR GPU which could push between 70 to 80 million polygonsa second
Apple clocked the A5 at 1 GHz on the iPad 2, though it could dynamically adjustits frequency to save battery life
Its clock speed on the iPhone 4S was 800 MHz and likethe A4, the A5 process size was 45 nm, which meant its physical size didn’t change
But later in 2011 Apple did shrink the A5 chipset with an updated 32 nanometer version
Not only was it smaller, but it was about 20% more power efficient too
And while thoseimprovements were much appreciated, the update to Apple’s A5X chipset was even better
Announced on March 7, 2012, with the launch of the third generation iPad, the A5X wasessentially a high performance variant of the A5 since it had twice the graphics powermade possible by a quad-core graphics unit instead of the previous dual-core
It alsohad a quad-channel memory controller that provided about three times more memory bandwidththan the A5
But these additional graphics cores and memory channels meant the siliconprocess size increased to 45 nanometers
It would shrink back down to 32 nanometersa year later though with the Apple A6 in 2012
It launched with the iPhone 5 and featuredtwice the speed and graphics power compared to its predecessor
It was 22% smaller andused less power, which helped improve the iPhone’s battery life
The A6 was the firstApple chipset to use a custom Apple-designed CPU which was clocked at 1
3 GHz and usedan ARMv7 based dual-core CPU, called Swift, rather than a licensed CPU from ARM like inprevious designs
The next chipset update came later that year,near the end of 2012 and it was called the Apple A6X as you might’ve guessed
It wasintroduced with the fourth generation iPad and it had twice the CPU performance and upto twice the graphics performance of its predecessor
It continued to use the custom dual-core SwiftCPU, but it had a new quad core GPU, quad channel memory and slightly higher 1
4 GHzCPU clock rate
About a year later the Apple A7 chipset madeits appearance alongside the iPhone 5S, which was introduced in September, 2013
Again,the newly upgraded chipset was up to twice as fast and had up to twice the graphics powercompared to its predecessor
Perhaps you’re beginning to see a pattern here
But somethingspecial about the A7 is that it was the first chipset to feature a 64-bit CPU instead ofthe usual 32-bit
This meant the processor could handle more data at once, making thedevice it powered much more capable
And another year brought with it another chipsetupgrade, this time to the Apple A8 which debuted in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014
The A8featured 25% more CPU performance and 50% more graphics performance than the A7, allwhile using half as much power
The A8 also had twice the amount of transistors as theA7 but was 13% smaller
And although this chipset was released in 2014, Apple used itin their 2018 HomePod, which says a lot about how capable and powerful this chipset reallyis
The Apple A8X was introduced with the iPadAir 2 near the end of 2014, and it had 40% more CPU performance and two and a half timesthe graphics performance of its predecessor
Unlike the A8, this chipset used a triple-coreCPU, a new octa-core GPU, dual channel memory, and a slightly higher 1
5 GHz CPU clock rate
It was also manufactured by TSMC instead of Samsung and featured 3 billion transistorson a smaller 20 nanometer process
In 2015 the Apple A9 chipset was releasedwith the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus and it achieved 70% more CPU performance and 90% more graphicsperformance compared to the A8
It was also the first of Apple’s chipsets to be manufacturedby both Samsung and TSMC, and this caused some controversy
You see, users ran benchmarktests to compare performance of the Samsung chipset versus TSMC and found the Samsungchipset delivered much lower battery life
But Apple said these benchmark tests weren’trepresentative of real-world usage, so several tech sites conducted their own real-worldtests and found the gap between Samsung and TSMC phones did indeed close
Now the following year TSMC served as Apple’ssole manufacturer of their A9X chipset
And this shift away from reliance on Samsung waslikely due to the legal battle taking place between the two companies
The Apple A9X firstappeared in the iPad Pro in 2015 and offered 80% more CPU performance and two times theGPU performance of the A8X
And in 2016 the Apple A10 Fusion chipset wasintroduced with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
The reason why it was called “fusion” wasbecause it had a new quad core design that fused together two high performance coreswith two high efficiency cores
That way the device received extra power while under heavyworkloads, but could save battery life when the additional processing power wasn’t needed
This fusion chipset was upgraded in 2017 andbecame Apple A10X Fusion
It first appeared in the 10
5" iPad Pro and had 30 percent fasterCPU performance and 40 percent faster GPU performance than its predecessor
This wasalso the chipset used to power the 4K Apple TV released on September 12, 2017
And near the end of 2017 Apple introducedthe A11 Bionic chipset which appeared in the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X
It had twohigh-performance cores which were 25% faster and four high-efficiency cores which were70% faster than the A10 Fusion chipset
So that’s where the A series stands today,and now let’s move on to the S series which are the chipsets used in the Apple Watch
They have a customized application processor that integrates memory, storage, wirelessconnectivity, sensors and I/O into a single package
And it all began with the first Apple Watchin 2014
Its single-core Apple S1 chipset may not have been the most powerful, but itwas quite a feat of engineering to combine so many electronics into one package
Nowthe S series received its first power boost in 2016 with the Apple S1P and the Apple S2
Both chipsets were upgraded to dual-core processors which made them twice as powerful, but onlythe S2 variant featured a built-in GPS receiver
And finally, in 2017, the Apple S3 chipsetwas introduced with the Apple Watch Series 3
This upgrade featured a dual-core processorthat was 70% faster than the S2 and had an optional cellular modem for LTE support
So that’s a rundown of the Apple Watch’sS series chipset, and that means we have two more left to cover: the W series and T series,both of which have two versions
So the W series was initially created for Apple’sAirPods, giving them stronger and faster bluetooth connectivity than its competition
But thesecond version in this series, the W2, was created for the Apple Watch Series 3
It gavethe Apple Watch 50% more power efficient bluetooth and wifi as well as allowing for 85% fasterwifi speeds
It’s hard to predict how Apple will use future versions of the W series chipsetssince it is so versatile and can be integrated into almost any device
Now let’s talk about the T series
The AppleT1 was created as a driver for the Touch ID sensor in the MacBook Pros
It operated asa secure enclave for the processing and encryption of fingerprints as well protecting the microphoneand FaceTime HD camera from being hacked
But the T2 chipset served as a secure enclavefor the iMac Pro
It allowed for encrypted keys, the ability to lock down the computer'sboot process, handled system functions like camera and audio control, managed the solid-statedrive, and delivered "enhanced imaging processing" for the iMac Pro's FaceTime HD camera
Now you may have noticed that virtually everyApple product features a custom Apple-designed chipset, except for their Mac computers, butrumors suggest that may be changing
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple plans to replaceMac Intel chips with its own custom chipset as early as 2020
This move would make quitea bit of sense, Apple has been investing heavily in custom silicon since the original iPhone,and including their own chips in their own computers seems like a step in the right directionfor Apple
So that is the history of Apple processors,and if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’t forget to subscribe
Thanksfor watching, and I’ll see you next time
There are four differentseries which power devices from the iPhone to the Apple TV, and may one day power yournext MacBook, but we’ll talk about that later
This topic was the winner of last weeksvoting poll and if you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way thevoting polls will show up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’dlike to see next
Now before we get started I want to thankX-VPN for sponsoring this video
If you guys don’t already use a VPN, now is a good timeto start since you can download X-VPN for free on your mobile device, but I recommendpaying the low $5
99 monthly fee for their premium service since you’ll get VPN supporton up to 10 devices, whether they’re mobile devices or desktop computers
And what doesX-VPN do exactly? Well it gives you complete anonymity on the web which eliminates vulnerabilitieson open wifi networks and prevents your internet activity from being monitored by ISPs or governmentagencies
You’ll also have access to fast VPN servers in 25 different countries whichmeans your favorite shows on Netflix or Hulu won’t be geo-blocked while traveling abroad
Also, X-VPN will unblock websites that are restricted at your school or workplace, whichis one of my favorite features
So I highly recommend you give X-VPN a try today by clickingthe link in the description
So most of us know that Apple’s a companywho embraces proprietary technology
While other companies outsource, Apple keeps thingsin-house whenever possible, and the chips found in iOS devices are no exception
WhileSamsung, Microsoft, and HTC rely on Qualcomm and Intel for chipsets, Apple has its ownteam of engineers to work on proprietary designs exclusive to their devices
And it all startedin 2008 when Apple purchased a small semiconductor company called P
A
Semi for a rumored $278million in cash
Well, it technically started a little earlierthan that
Because prior to the introduction of the Apple "A" series chipset, Apple designedseveral system-on-a-chips in early versions of the iPhone and iPod touch that were manufacturedby Samsung
These chipsets integrated a single ARM-based processing core or CPU, a graphicsprocessing unit or GPU, and other electronics necessary to provide mobile computing functionsinside a single package
The first of these system-on-a-chips was usedin the first iPhone in 2007
It was called the APL0098 and included a 412 MHz single-coreARM11 CPU and a PowerVR MBX Lite GPU on a 90 nm process
Now that probably sounded likea bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but this technology is what enabled mobile devices to become powerfulpocket computers that we can’t live without today
This chipset received three upgrades,the first was at the end of 2008 which included a faster 533 MHz CPU which was used by thesecond gen iPod Touch
The second in mid 2009 which again saw its CPU upgraded, but thistime to 600 MHz which was included in the iPhone 3GS
And the final upgrade of thisseries took place at the end of 2009 and featured a smaller footprint in order to fit insidethe slim third-generation iPod touch
Now we can talk about the more popular seriesof processors that Apple has featured in their recent devices
And they’re the A series,S series, W series, and T series
Now you might be wondering why Apple developed fourseparate chipsets, and it’s because Apple’s different devices have different needs
Let’sstart with the A series
The Apple A4 was based on the ARM processorarchitecture and contained an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core paired with a PowerVR SGX 535 graphicsprocessor built on Samsung's 45-nanometer silicon
Although it delivered a clock speedof 1GHz for the first gen iPad, this speed was reduced to 800 MHz when used in the iPhone4 and fourth-gen iPod touch, likely to save battery life
And this A4 chipset was alsoincluded in the Apple TV, but its clock speed was never revealed by Apple
In March 2011, Apple revealed the updatedA5 chipset with the release of the iPad 2
Followed by its inclusion in the iPhone 4slater that year
Apple claimed that the A5’s updated CPU "could do twice the work" andits GPU had "up to nine times the graphics performance
” This huge jump in performancewas mainly because of the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with ARM's advanced SIMD extension, marketedas NEON
And a dual core PowerVR GPU which could push between 70 to 80 million polygonsa second
Apple clocked the A5 at 1 GHz on the iPad 2, though it could dynamically adjustits frequency to save battery life
Its clock speed on the iPhone 4S was 800 MHz and likethe A4, the A5 process size was 45 nm, which meant its physical size didn’t change
But later in 2011 Apple did shrink the A5 chipset with an updated 32 nanometer version
Not only was it smaller, but it was about 20% more power efficient too
And while thoseimprovements were much appreciated, the update to Apple’s A5X chipset was even better
Announced on March 7, 2012, with the launch of the third generation iPad, the A5X wasessentially a high performance variant of the A5 since it had twice the graphics powermade possible by a quad-core graphics unit instead of the previous dual-core
It alsohad a quad-channel memory controller that provided about three times more memory bandwidththan the A5
But these additional graphics cores and memory channels meant the siliconprocess size increased to 45 nanometers
It would shrink back down to 32 nanometersa year later though with the Apple A6 in 2012
It launched with the iPhone 5 and featuredtwice the speed and graphics power compared to its predecessor
It was 22% smaller andused less power, which helped improve the iPhone’s battery life
The A6 was the firstApple chipset to use a custom Apple-designed CPU which was clocked at 1
3 GHz and usedan ARMv7 based dual-core CPU, called Swift, rather than a licensed CPU from ARM like inprevious designs
The next chipset update came later that year,near the end of 2012 and it was called the Apple A6X as you might’ve guessed
It wasintroduced with the fourth generation iPad and it had twice the CPU performance and upto twice the graphics performance of its predecessor
It continued to use the custom dual-core SwiftCPU, but it had a new quad core GPU, quad channel memory and slightly higher 1
4 GHzCPU clock rate
About a year later the Apple A7 chipset madeits appearance alongside the iPhone 5S, which was introduced in September, 2013
Again,the newly upgraded chipset was up to twice as fast and had up to twice the graphics powercompared to its predecessor
Perhaps you’re beginning to see a pattern here
But somethingspecial about the A7 is that it was the first chipset to feature a 64-bit CPU instead ofthe usual 32-bit
This meant the processor could handle more data at once, making thedevice it powered much more capable
And another year brought with it another chipsetupgrade, this time to the Apple A8 which debuted in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014
The A8featured 25% more CPU performance and 50% more graphics performance than the A7, allwhile using half as much power
The A8 also had twice the amount of transistors as theA7 but was 13% smaller
And although this chipset was released in 2014, Apple used itin their 2018 HomePod, which says a lot about how capable and powerful this chipset reallyis
The Apple A8X was introduced with the iPadAir 2 near the end of 2014, and it had 40% more CPU performance and two and a half timesthe graphics performance of its predecessor
Unlike the A8, this chipset used a triple-coreCPU, a new octa-core GPU, dual channel memory, and a slightly higher 1
5 GHz CPU clock rate
It was also manufactured by TSMC instead of Samsung and featured 3 billion transistorson a smaller 20 nanometer process
In 2015 the Apple A9 chipset was releasedwith the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus and it achieved 70% more CPU performance and 90% more graphicsperformance compared to the A8
It was also the first of Apple’s chipsets to be manufacturedby both Samsung and TSMC, and this caused some controversy
You see, users ran benchmarktests to compare performance of the Samsung chipset versus TSMC and found the Samsungchipset delivered much lower battery life
But Apple said these benchmark tests weren’trepresentative of real-world usage, so several tech sites conducted their own real-worldtests and found the gap between Samsung and TSMC phones did indeed close
Now the following year TSMC served as Apple’ssole manufacturer of their A9X chipset
And this shift away from reliance on Samsung waslikely due to the legal battle taking place between the two companies
The Apple A9X firstappeared in the iPad Pro in 2015 and offered 80% more CPU performance and two times theGPU performance of the A8X
And in 2016 the Apple A10 Fusion chipset wasintroduced with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
The reason why it was called “fusion” wasbecause it had a new quad core design that fused together two high performance coreswith two high efficiency cores
That way the device received extra power while under heavyworkloads, but could save battery life when the additional processing power wasn’t needed
This fusion chipset was upgraded in 2017 andbecame Apple A10X Fusion
It first appeared in the 10
5" iPad Pro and had 30 percent fasterCPU performance and 40 percent faster GPU performance than its predecessor
This wasalso the chipset used to power the 4K Apple TV released on September 12, 2017
And near the end of 2017 Apple introducedthe A11 Bionic chipset which appeared in the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X
It had twohigh-performance cores which were 25% faster and four high-efficiency cores which were70% faster than the A10 Fusion chipset
So that’s where the A series stands today,and now let’s move on to the S series which are the chipsets used in the Apple Watch
They have a customized application processor that integrates memory, storage, wirelessconnectivity, sensors and I/O into a single package
And it all began with the first Apple Watchin 2014
Its single-core Apple S1 chipset may not have been the most powerful, but itwas quite a feat of engineering to combine so many electronics into one package
Nowthe S series received its first power boost in 2016 with the Apple S1P and the Apple S2
Both chipsets were upgraded to dual-core processors which made them twice as powerful, but onlythe S2 variant featured a built-in GPS receiver
And finally, in 2017, the Apple S3 chipsetwas introduced with the Apple Watch Series 3
This upgrade featured a dual-core processorthat was 70% faster than the S2 and had an optional cellular modem for LTE support
So that’s a rundown of the Apple Watch’sS series chipset, and that means we have two more left to cover: the W series and T series,both of which have two versions
So the W series was initially created for Apple’sAirPods, giving them stronger and faster bluetooth connectivity than its competition
But thesecond version in this series, the W2, was created for the Apple Watch Series 3
It gavethe Apple Watch 50% more power efficient bluetooth and wifi as well as allowing for 85% fasterwifi speeds
It’s hard to predict how Apple will use future versions of the W series chipsetssince it is so versatile and can be integrated into almost any device
Now let’s talk about the T series
The AppleT1 was created as a driver for the Touch ID sensor in the MacBook Pros
It operated asa secure enclave for the processing and encryption of fingerprints as well protecting the microphoneand FaceTime HD camera from being hacked
But the T2 chipset served as a secure enclavefor the iMac Pro
It allowed for encrypted keys, the ability to lock down the computer'sboot process, handled system functions like camera and audio control, managed the solid-statedrive, and delivered "enhanced imaging processing" for the iMac Pro's FaceTime HD camera
Now you may have noticed that virtually everyApple product features a custom Apple-designed chipset, except for their Mac computers, butrumors suggest that may be changing
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple plans to replaceMac Intel chips with its own custom chipset as early as 2020
This move would make quitea bit of sense, Apple has been investing heavily in custom silicon since the original iPhone,and including their own chips in their own computers seems like a step in the right directionfor Apple
So that is the history of Apple processors,and if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’t forget to subscribe
Thanksfor watching, and I’ll see you next time
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