Apple A11 SoC

[Scott_Arm]

One of the problems apple has had with Intel is that Intel basically controls the release schedule of the macbook lines. They can't release new Macbooks until Intel offers them new parts. That makes Apple very dependent and it hurts them when Intel has delays.

It would also make sense for them to unify their CPU and GPU architectures so they have a write-once run-everywhere ecosystem. Obviously Mac Pro would be the exception, but it's hard to tell wtf is going on with that product. Macbook Pro might be a tough one too. Maybe on that line they'd use Nvidia or AMD GPUs, but their own CPU.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

One of the problems apple has had with Intel is that Intel basically controls the release schedule of the macbook lines. They can't release new Macbooks until Intel offers them new parts. That makes Apple very dependent and it hurts them when Intel has delays.

Yup. And the barriers are not just with the CPU but with the support chips and what RAM configurations and I/O Intel support as well. Intel should have seen this coming as Mac switching to Intel was driven entirely by the PowerPC consortium's inability to deploy a mobile G5. When you can't do what Apple want they'll do one of two things: 1) find somebody else who can, or 2) do it themselves.

I have an 10.5" iPad Pro that, in measurable benchmarks, outperforms my 12" MacBook. That was unimaginable just five years ago. Intel's pace has slowed and Apple's ARM implementation has quickened. Is is sustainable? Who knows.

 

[Lazy8s]

A year ago in this thread, I pointed out the curiosity that the iPhone 8/X’s A11 SoC was quite a bit slower than the iPhone 7’s A10 at the processor intensive task of video rendering/export.

From what I remember being detailed about the processing work being done by the specific video apps, they use at least some GPU involvement to accelerate the exporting. Though each new Apple SoC has generally outperformed its predecessor impressively in terms of CPU, graphics, video recording/playback, etc (let alone competitors like Snapdragon/Adreno and Exynos/Mali which have been even somewhat further behind), I noticed a few isolated regressions with the A11.

In areas like the aforementioned encoding/exporting and even some issues with the quality and frame rate consistency of video recorded from the camera, there seemed to be a few little hiccups in the performance progression as Apple moved further away from the graphics and video cores they had been using from PowerVR to the designs they were customizing from them.

Up to this point, the iPhone 7 and its A10 has remained the fastest phone by quite a margin for rendering out intensive HD/4K videos from a phone, something that matters to my typical usage since I take a lot of video of trips and events. The hardware and software/app combinations I’ve seen from the Android space aren’t competitive in terms of performance at this task.

Now, a year later, the iPhone XS and its A12 takes a shot at beating the iPhone 7’s A10 at video export, and... barely manages to tie it in the end!

(segment at 5 minute mark)

As amusing as that one performance anomaly is, the A12’s overall graphics performance is very strong. No phone is really close.

 

[Pressure]

Do you, like, edit on your iPhone?

HEVC encode/decode is in the hardware though. Was there a difference in storage space?

 

[Lazy8s]

It’s a good point about the higher storages having higher bandwidth, and I’m not sure about the configurations of the two phones used in each of the above videos. I’ve definitely seen a comparison between an iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone X of equal storage which confirmed the result, and I’d imagine, if anything, chances are the XS has at least as much storage as the 7 Plus in that video above simply because of the escalating storage amounts they’re including in the successive models. But, can’t say for sure with that video.

I do edit movies on my phone.

iMovie on iPhone provides all the necessities to splice, transition, and blend video and audio tracks into a high quality product, and the controls are surprisingly good for relatively fine-grained control. It doesn’t offer a lot in terms of more advanced effects and layering, but I’m just an enthusiast and haven’t needed more so far.

I typically take dozens of video clips and photos if I’m with my friends competing in a table tennis tournament or other competition. I can use the Memories function of the Photos app to automatically instantly generate a movie with parts from the clips extracted, combined, and timed to music I’ve selected.

I was extremely skeptical the algorithms would be intelligent enough to extract segments from clips that would be sensible without leaving out important parts of the action/conversation or including random parts with nothing of real interest too often, but I’ve continually been blown away by its clip selection and its ability to match and re-match the action with the beats of the soundtrack even after I make tweaks to clip lengths.

With Memories, I’m able to turn what used to be hours of editing work into a few minutes. It obviously doesn’t make sense for every project, and iMovie is always available when I need full manual control.

 

[Pressure]

It’s a good point about the higher storages having higher bandwidth, and I’m not sure about the configurations of the two phones used in each of the above videos. I’ve definitely seen a comparison between an iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone X of equal storage which confirmed the result, and I’d imagine, if anything, chances are the XS has at least as much storage as the 7 Plus in that video above simply because of the escalating storage amounts they’re including in the successive models. But, can’t say for sure with that video.

I do edit movies on my phone.

iMovie on iPhone provides all the necessities to splice, transition, and blend video and audio tracks into a high quality product, and the controls are surprisingly good for relatively fine-grained control. It doesn’t offer a lot in terms of more advanced effects and layering, but I’m just an enthusiast and haven’t needed more so far.

I typically take dozens of video clips and photos if I’m with my friends competing in a table tennis tournament or other competition. I can use the Memories function of the Photos app to automatically instantly generate a movie with parts from the clips extracted, combined, and timed to music I’ve selected.

I was extremely skeptical the algorithms would be intelligent enough to extract segments from clips that would be sensible without leaving out important parts of the action/conversation or including random parts with nothing of real interest too often, but I’ve continually been blown away by its clip selection and its ability to match and re-match the action with the beats of the soundtrack even after I make tweaks to clip lengths.

With Memories, I’m able to turn what used to be hours of editing work into a few minutes. It obviously doesn’t make sense for every project, and iMovie is always available when I need full manual control.

Never tried it, honestly. Will have to test it at some point

 

[wco81]

For all the processing power in the Apple SOCs, it seems they can't enable electronic image stabilization in 4K video modes.

I've been taking short clips on my iPhone 8 Plus during my travels. Looking at them I was flabbergasted to find that they were a lot more shaky than my previous phone.

Searching around, I found that they don't support EIS in 4K30 or 4K60.

Same is true with the iPhone XS as well.

 

[Pressure]

Yeah, if you take a lot of video I would always recommend a small gimbal, like the DJI Osmo Mobile 2.

There is nothing indicating that their dual optical image stabilization doesn't work in 4K though. Must be a faulty device then.

Just looked at the developer information available and it is supported from iPhone 6S and onwards.

Cinematic Video Stabilization is also enabled from iOS 9+ but that mode crops the full image.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

For all the processing power in the Apple SOCs, it seems they can't enable electronic image stabilization in 4K video modes.

Why do people keep saying this? Do I have special phones or what?

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/the-iphone-xs-xs-max-review-unveiling-the-silicon-secrets/13

 

[wco81]

Why do people keep saying this? Do I have special phones or what?

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/the-iphone-xs-xs-max-review-unveiling-the-silicon-secrets/13

Look at this description from the Apple specs page:

• Optical image stabilization for video

• Cinematic video stabilization (1080p and 720p)

https://www.apple.com/iphone-xs/specs/

 

[Pressure]

Look at this description from the Apple specs page:

• Optical image stabilization for video

• Cinematic video stabilization (1080p and 720p)

https://www.apple.com/iphone-xs/specs/

Cinematic Video Stabilization is crop. That's why it doesn't work at 4K. There is nothing to crop to stabilize. Optical Image Stabilization works in all modes, except 4K 60fps telephoto lens.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Cinematic Video Stabilization is crop. That's why it doesn't work at 4K. There is nothing to crop to stabilize. Optical Image Stabilization works in all modes, except 4K 60fps telephoto lens.

Check my video samples... 4K30 has EIS on while 4K60 doesn't. OIS also works fine in 4K60 telephoto.

 

[wco81]

Cinematic Video Stabilization is crop. That's why it doesn't work at 4K. There is nothing to crop to stabilize. Optical Image Stabilization works in all modes, except 4K 60fps telephoto lens.

Are you sure about that?

There’s definitely a difference between 4K and 1080p modes out of the same iPhone 8 Plus or me.

 

[Pressure]

Are you sure about that?

There’s definitely a difference between 4K and 1080p modes out of the same iPhone 8 Plus or me.

I don't know what else I should do but I linked directly to the developer iOS Device Compatibility reference above. It has all the relevant information.

1080p can take advantage of both crop and optical image stabilization, so obviously there will be a difference between that and 2160p30.

 

[wco81]

I don't know what else I should do but I linked directly to the developer iOS Device Compatibility reference above. It has all the relevant information.

1080p can take advantage of both crop and optical image stabilization, so obviously there will be a difference between that and 2160p30.

Hmm, I guess whatever is built in is not as effective in 4K as it is in lower resolutions.

In any event, it appears the handheld gimbals like the Osmo are relatively popular, though they all seem to be from Chinese companies.

I saw this one on Indiegogo, which you can get for about half the price of other brands during the funding stage:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/...rce=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=#/

 

[Pressure]

Hmm, I guess whatever is built in is not as effective in 4K as it is in lower resolutions.

In any event, it appears the handheld gimbals like the Osmo are relatively popular, though they all seem to be from Chinese companies.

I saw this one on Indiegogo, which you can get for about half the price of other brands during the funding stage:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/...rce=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=#/

Yes, obviously it is different. Cinematic Video Stabilization works by taking the full sensor resolution and using that extra resolution to stabilize and crop the footage down to 1080p. That working together with Optical Image Stabilization should produce a very stable footage.

I would stay clear of Indiegogo in general, much worse completion rate than Kickstarter and worse "investor" protection.

The DJI Osmo Mobile 2 is only a bit more than that ($136 from Amazon).