“Inside the new Apple Watch 4, we see Apple transition to a new SiP (Silicon in Package) design with a new S4 SoC containing for the first time a custom Apple designed CPU and GPU,” Andrei Frumusanu writes for AnandTech. “We don’t have much information on the specifications here other than the new dual-CPU is 64-bit capable and is promised to perform twice as fast as it’s predecessors – which used Arm’s Cortex A7.”
“Prior generations of the Apple watch used a variation of an Imagination SGX core. For the S4 again Apple claims it’s a new custom GPU – again we don’t have any details here other than what Apple talked about in the presentation,” Frumusanu writes. “Finally the new S4 SiP includes new accelerometer and gyroscope functionality that has 2x the dynamic range in terms of measurable values, as well as able to sample data at 8x the speed. What this allows Apple to do is to collect a lot more data at higher accuracy and try to determine the scenario that you’re in.”
“The core new characteristic of the new watch is the larger screen which now achieves a higher screen-to-body ratio on the watch. This is actually a pretty great improvement as the new screen feels a lot more pronounced,” Frumusanu writes. “The new Apple watch with GPS is available for $399 and the LTE variant comes in at $499 and are both available starting September 17th, with preorders starting this Friday the 14th. Overall I found the new Apple Watch 4 a lot more attractive than its predecessors – though it’s still a quite steep price point.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For those many million whose first Apple Watch will be a Series 4, you owe us early adopters!
It wasn’t always so smooth, but we’d never trade our experiences with Apple Watch (original) through Series 3 and all of the watchOS iterations. We’ve come a long, long way in a relatively short time, baby!
Holy crap, by screen just blossomed with 6 PayPal ads.
I have no doubt that every person posting at MDN is frustrated with MDN ads. God knows I am as I write this on a 2008 iMac that was only supposed hold me a short time. That said, I don’t think we need a repeat of same complaints and frustrations posted under every article that is written. It’s tiresome at this point.
64-bit smartwatch? That’s just an Apple gimmick, right? No one needs something like that in a smartwatch.
/s
Apple is really knocking out that silicon but gets almost no praise like NVidia or AMD does. I can’t wait to see when Apple starts designing its own GPUs. Hopefully, they’ll have far better thermals than those toaster-oven Vega GPUs. It’s just so strange how those Vega GPUs put out more heat but have less performance than the NVidia GTX GPUs. Apple definitely needs its own custom low-power GPUs if they’re going to use them in slim cases with minimal airflow.
You did read the headline, right? Both the new phone and watch have custom Apple designed GPUs. I think I know what you meant- GPU for their Mac line – but that doesn’t negate the fact that they’re already doing it on phones and watches.
Apple designing and successfully implementing its very own CPU/GPU is a heroic accomplishment.