“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly landed CPU orders for Apple’s upcoming next-generation iPad expected to be released in early 2015, according to sources familiar with the matter,” Josephine Lien and Steve Shen report for DigiTimes.
“TSMC will continue to make the new CPUs for the new iPad on a 20nm process as it did currently for the A8 processors, said the sources, adding that the new CPU is tentatively codenamed A8X,” Lien and Shen report. “The SoC of the A8X will be larger than that of A8’s, which could pose a challenge to TSMC in terms of yield rates, the sources commented.”
“Meanwhile, TSMC is also producing a number of peripheral chips for the iPhone 6 devices,” Lien and Shen report, “including Dialog’s power management (PWM) ICs, Qualcomm’s 4G baseband chips, Synaptics’ LCD driver ICs, InvenSense’s 6-axis gyroscopes, and AuthenTec’s fingerprint sensors.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
I’m still not sold on the rumors of the large iPad existing yet. Unless it does something more than the current lineup I don’t see the use. The trend has been to smaller devices so if there is no reason to buy other than just its large size, I don’t see Apple manufacturing it.
I could see business and enterprise appreciating the larger area for their vertical apps. Think of airline pilots being able to see more of their manuals, or larger print, etc.
But I agree, Apple won’t just make the iPad bigger they will add interface enhancements to take advantage of the larger size and additional computing power.
Since the first, I’ve always seen a need for a larger model. I was an early adopter of Zinio and always thought the standard model was too small for reading magazines comfortably.
I am a design professional, and I would find innumerable uses for a larger screen iPad. More area for drawing is just a beginning. Being able to link to a computer in my office from anywhere in the world is very useful now, and would be dramatically more so with increased screen real estate. Think of the power of a Mac Pro linked to the portability of an iPad with a big enough screen, incorporating an Apple touch interface, to replace a traditional screen/keyboard/mouse interface – mind blowin possibilities.
I want it, I want it now, I want It BAD!
New iPads will cement adoption and use in the enterprise.
Are we finally going to see some Apple cases with built-in keyboards?
Never! Apple does not retreat into the past.
Then why no remove keyboards from laptops if they are the past. The cover option is a great idea for those who want/need them without compromising the design. Redicuous that Surface can peddle a keyboard as if the option isn’t available on the iPad.
Of anyone could do it really well, Apple could.
Another Apple order Samdung won’t make money off..=*^)
Apple is just showing how disloyal they are.
This is a stab in the back for Samsung to which Apple owes the very existence of the iPhone and iPad as Samsung has been not only their provider for quality electronic components but also the source of “inspiration” for the development of iOS
No, Samsung is well known for the back stabbing. Rather, this is Apple removing the Samsung knife from it’s back, turning around with it, and with a clean stab to the stomach. The major difference is with Apple’s eye to eye contact is creating fear in Samsung so badly they are soiling themselves.
you forgot the /s
Artifig you should write for The Onion, you have some brilliant satire going on there.
No Samsung? AWESOME!!!
I’m really amped about the 12.9″ Ipad!
It would be super if it had retina screen, iPhone functions for making and receiving calls while multi-tasking, and a larger haptic virtual key board for easier typing and spreadsheet or business forms data entry. Add all that to Airplay remote printing, and etc., etc. Do you get the picture? The list of office functions goes on and on …. Phone and share your latest work holographic fix with a co-worker, or email them a “hard” copy.
Enterprise is going to demand it all, and they are going to love Apple when Apple provides it.
As Apple’s A-series chips get more powerful as well as more efficient I can’t see how Apple can’t start putting them first in Airs, then iMacs.
It seems inevitable, if their current trajectory is any indicator.
x86 compatibility. NO Mac will have an ARM CPU unless it’s powerful enough to run an x86 emulator at normal speeds. I recall using as x86 emulator on a PPC and it was virtually unusable. An ARM chip would have to be MANY times faster than an x86 for an emulator to work.
You have more knowledge than I do about such matters it seems. That being said, it seems fairly obvious to me that it’s a question of when, not if.
Besides, you don’t actually think that Apple is testing these sorts of things? I am not privy to those matters as well, but it would make sense.
And recall have (relatively) smooth the transition from PPC to Intel was.
I am betting that they can do it.
Not really more knowledge, just paying attention to developers. Just look at one program like Photoshop, all the add-ons, filters and such are all now written for x86. Just think of all the other software that depends on x86 while keeping in mind that the Mac still has a relatively small market share.
Things got a lot better for the Mac when it went Intel. Moving away from Intel would be a horrible mistake.
I can see the Ax processors turning iPhones and iPads into very serious computing platforms, but I will never see Apple make the same mistake Microsoft made by trying to combine the two platforms. IOS and OS X will run on separate processors and stay separate operating systems while following the increasing trend of keeping data compatible between the two.
Microsoft tried to keep the same user interface across a incompatible operating systems and had little concern for data compatibility. That was its prime mistake.
It doesn’t matter if your processors are the same or your user interface is the same, it only matters if the data is compatible between one device and the other. This is where Microsoft failed and the hopefully winning direction Apple is headed.
Apple is partners with both IBM and Intel, two companies that are at the top of their game. Apple is also at the top it’s game and there’s no reason to take on the whole world by itself.
The thing is, the last I heard Apple was paying plenty of money for Intel processors. Seeing that they are developing their own mobile processors, it’s not a great leap of logic that they would be developing their own for their computers. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but I am willing to be money that it happens.