Apple did not detail the relative performance gains achieved by its new A15 Bionic SoC during the unveiling of the iPhone 13 on Tuesday, a rarity for a major hardware release. A report believes the omission was not an oversight, as Apple has little to say.
While Apple mentioned certain aspects of its new chip-based system design, specifically improvements related to graphics capabilities, executives took into account the gross performance of the CPU. During the presentation of the iPad mini a piece was delivered, according to Apple said that A15 includes a CPU 40% faster compared to the predecessor powered by the A12 of the tablet, but the comparisons ended here.
Rumors on social media suggested that the CPU numbers have been intentionally dropped because it’s not as favorable a comparison as previous Series A introductions.
In a report released shortly after the introduction of the iPhone 13 and iPad mini, Semianalysis suggests that Apple’s chip team has internal problems after an alleged brain drain that destroyed key executives and staff on projects like A15. After conducting a preliminary analysis of the A15 array based on total transistors, estimated array size, and other metrics, the publication found no significant CPU improvements and concluded that Apple’s next-generation kernel would be delayed until 2022.
While there is little evidence that talent emigration is affecting Apple, the company has lost several key players in recent years. Gerard Williams III, Apple’s leading A12 to A12X chip designer, left the company in 2019 to found Nuvia, a company that later acquired Qualcomm for $ 1.4 billion. Apple sued Williams for claims that Nuvia initiated while working for the tech giant and recruited from its ranks, allegations that the chip architect denies.
Today’s report also mentions Rivos, a RISC-V start-up that includes several former Apple engineers.
“We believe Apple had to slow down the new generation of CPU cores due to the staff turnover that Apple has experienced,” the report says. “Instead of a new CPU core, they use a modified version of last year’s kernel.”
Alternatively, Apple could have sunk its transistor budget into improving GPU cores and silicon designs that enhance graphics and camera-related features. Semianalysis agrees that the GPU’s gains are “pretty impressive,” but holds the theory that the lack of CPU upgrades points to internal problems.
For its part, Apple in marketing material for the iPhone 13 Pro praises the advances made with A15, saying that it is able to improve the silicon of the A series because it creates long-term product roadmaps “of the way that no other company can do “. Many of the graphics-intensive tasks, such as the ProMotion variable, show refresh rates.
“That’s how we offer features like ProMotion, which have to be planned years in advance,” Apple says. “Our chip team fully understood the needs of the display hardware, display software and operating system equipment and took them into account for A15 Bionic.”
A more detailed analysis of the A15 should come to light after the iPhone 13 and iPad mini are released next week.