[RealWorldTech] A Look Inside Apple’s Custom GPU for the iPhone

[Arachnotronic]

From the first models, Apple’s iPhones and iPads have licensed and used PowerVR GPUs from Imagination Technologies for graphics. Apple even owns around 10% of Imagination and is Imagination’s biggest customer, accounting for about 30% of the company’s revenue. Just as Apple began by licensing standard ARM CPU cores but now designs its own, we believe the company has similarly shifted from licensing PowerVR to designing a custom GPU. This new GPU first shipped in the A8 processor that is in the iPhone 6, and its descendants are also in the A9 and A10 Fusion processors in the iPhone 6S and 7.

http://www.realworldtech.com/apple-custom-gpu/

 

[Trumpstyle]

I'm just wondering if it's really worth for apple to spend billions of $ every year just for customized cpu/gpu when they just buy a finished soc from Qualcomm.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'm just wondering if it's really worth for apple to spend billions of $ every year just for customized cpu/gpu when they just buy a finished soc from Qualcomm.

Apple's SoCs are better than Qualcomm's in many key user experience-impacting ways, so clearly it is.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

This article seems to have found some real differences. Namely, the native 16-bit registers vs. 32-bit registers in stock PowerVR. Seems that the 16 bit registers pay off in a few ways. I'm sure there are other differences, but this difference is fairly major and also publicly documented.

 

[Oyeve]

I'm just wondering if it's really worth for apple to spend billions of $ every year just for customized cpu/gpu when they just buy a finished soc from Qualcomm.

I agree. I mean, c'mon, people are still playing the same games on the iphone and ipad from years ago. Are there any games or even apps that really utilize any of this horse power?

 

[MacBAir]

I agree. I mean, c'mon, people are still playing the same games on the iphone and ipad from years ago. Are there any games or even apps that really utilize any of this horse power?

Yes, obviously. There's a whole lot of capabilities that are there because of Apple's chips.

With that chip, Apple is 100% sure that they will never be left behind from a power POV, and it gives them the ability to dodge Qualcomm's BS missteps, take iOS where they want to, and design the next devices while knowing what the requirements are for the SoC.

That's invaluable. Using Intel is why Macs will never be much better than their PC equivalents.