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iPhone Powered By ARM CPU - Among Fastest In Handhelds
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2007-07-02 08:08:06
Analysis of the recently leaked iPhone firmware has revealed a number of things regarding the inner workings of the iPhone. Among them is an indication that the processing power behind the iPhone is a 620MHz ARM-based core, as we had earlier suspected. Specifically, it seems that the embedded processor may be a Samsung S3C6400, which contains an ARM1176JZF core.
ARM processors are found in a great many modern, embedded applications including handheld computers such as the PocketPC. ARM is known to many on the other side of the pond as providing the power for several of the excellent Acorn workstations, popular in the late 80's, early 90's.
A very general breakdown of processor features:- ARM1176JZF chip with TrustZone (enables trusted computing environment)
- Up to 700MHz or more, depending on implementation
- ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (claimed to reduce power consumption 25-50% in portables)
- 16K instr / 16K data cache
- Vector floating point coprocessor - "powerful acceleration for embedded 3D-graphics"
- ARM Jazelle enabled for embedded Java execution
- SIMD, high perf integer CPU (8-stage pipeline, 675 Dhrystone, 2.1 MIPS)
- 0.45 mW/MHz power draw (with cache)
Readers may be unaware that Apple's previous handheld offerings, the famed Newton MessagePad series, were all ARM-based as well.
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