Apple A8 and A8X

That's what I'm thinking too. They did mention they put in a desktop quality scaler. Anand reported that Apple wrote a custom scaling engine in software for the Mac when they went Retina because they weren't satisfied with the quality in existing GPUs. Since they control the hardware on iPhone, they could put it in hardware here.

 

It's not obvious what GPU configuration they've chosen. I'd lean towards the GX6650 partly because of its 16-bit capabilities which seems ideal for these devices, and because it could bring a bit more grunt when given freer reins in an iPad, assuming the next iPad uses the same GPU.

It is not a given that clocks are identical between the 6 and 6 Plus.

 

I'm talking about GPU clocks between 5S and 6. They'd need to decrease clocks if they went to GX6650 and are quoting 50% performance increase for FP16.

 

Remember TSMC's 20nm isn't actually that great for performance scaling. If this is what they are advertising on their website:

Then real world results are probably much worse.

If they've managed to increase both performance and lower power, then that's probably a big win.

 

Yup, and I am assuming that this will draw a bit less power for the same performance, and give a bit more headroom in less constrained environments at the cost of a little more die area. Seems like a reasonable trade off for Apple.

 

There's no chance that some of the additional transistors would be for more RAM?

Must be for the GPU cores. Is the M8 integrated into the A8 or separate chip?

Ah they did say the image processing silicon was integrated but they probably had something similar in the A7.

 

Screen rez went up A LOT more than GPU performance this generation. It won't be until next year at least until relative performance starts to catch up with the iP5S. Fortunately I don't feel compelled to upgrade this year, so it won't affect me.

The apple watch though...OMFGBBQ! I got the weirdest boner when they unveiled that thing, lol.

 

apple claims a 50% gpu perf increase, while resolution only went up by ~40%.
Of course if you're talking about the iphab 6 it's different, but anyway games aren't forced to render at full resolution.

 

Funny someone else posted on another forum that the watch didn't make their pants tingle, so different strokes.

6 Plus has 185% more pixels than the 5S. So the 50% GPU increase ...

 

Basically every SoC out there has this already.

 

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/09/tim-cook-steve-jobs-dna/

Apparently the Apple Watch design started after Jobs passed away so the "What would Steve Jobs have done?" question is going to float around. People seem happy with the high build quality of the watch but the design is hit or miss, but that might not be unexpected given the emphasis on it being a fashion item.

I generally avoid 1.0 products when Apple releases new product categories since they never seem to be supported as long as later models and the 2nd gen always seems much more fully realized so I'll wait for 2nd gen smartwatches from Apple and others before seriously considering if they are worth it.

 

(Ars on the iPhone 6 Plus's "3x" downscaling)

I'm hoping that the stuttering is just a temporary software issue...

 

Reachability mode sounds terrible. Deserving of a Jobs would never have allowed it assumption. Hopefully Apple quickly mandates developers adopt the back gesture introduced in iOS 7 just like they quickly mandated iPhone 5 resolution support in the App Store.

 

I think they could have convinced Jobs to change things.

Like he was convinced on video on iPods. Then later on iPad Mini, though by that time, he might have been sick and less engaged in running the company or making product decisions.

The watch seems like these companies are covering their bases, since wearables are often predicted as the next untapped product category. Cook and Apple are under pressure to build a new business, to show they can expand the company without Jobs.

So maybe that's what this is, not some conviction in the product category.

 

Regardless of what one thinks of the watch, it rofflestomps all of the competition. It makes the second-prettiest watch - the Moto 360 - look like a cheap toy, the kind of thing you get inside one of those plastic eggs that pop out of a dispenser after inserting a coin and turning a handle.

...Of course, that doesn't matter much if you think smartwatches are fucking stoopid to begin with, but there ya go... *shrug*

I can't help thinking of how beautiful (I think) it is. The care and precision with which it has been designed and put together, the attention - and general lack - of detail. The re-thinking of the control interface. Not just blindly shrinking down a phone OS to the size of a watch, but to really think things through. The haptic feedback is a bit gimmicky, but the pressure sensitive screen is not. The scrollwheel definitely is not. Apple pulled the pants down on all of the - almost nonexistent - competition, they all went /Dies after seeing this unveil I'm sure. They were outclassed, bigtime.

Maybe Apple will singlehandedly make smart watches an actual thing somehow, I don't know. If Apple can't, then nobody can, because samsung's pathetic rapid-fire throwing-shit-at-the-wall-with-nothing-sticking sure won't.

And the CHEAPEST watch - the alu casing with polymer strap - will cost $350, jeebus wept. Don't ask what the stainless steel case with the nine-hour-to-cut steel links cost, or god forbid, the solid 18K gold model with the fancy italian unicorn leather strap...

What I would REALLY like to know is:
*Battery life. The hardware in this thing is pretty damn serious!
*Display brightness under sunlight. OLED is pretty crap there I hear, and this has gotta be OLED.
*Flash capacity.

 

Hey guys, first post, but long time reader.

The presentation of the iWatch seems to validate the leak that came out yesterday on Reddit - located here.

http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2fsswb/iwatch_leak/

While details are lacking, it notes that battery life should be at least over day. I'm hopeful we'll be hearing more soon.

Best,

Michael

 

on ups, you had me, till I read to the end, yoda disappointed also

 

It sounded like you pretty much have to charge it every night. Cook talked about charging at night when he showed the magnetic charging plug.

 

https://twitter.com/aras_p/status/509563879937306625
https://developer.apple.com/library....html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014221-CH8-SW11

Metal docs identify MTLFeatureSet_iOS_GPUFamily1_v1 and MTLFeatureSet_iOS_GPUFamily2_v1 which are likely the A7 and A8. So 4 MRTs and no ASTC in A7 and 8 MRTs and ASTC in A8 likely meaning a transition from Series 6 to Series 6 XT.

 

Nice work. Now we just need a die shot to confirm cluster count.

Gokhan explicitly confirms it with tweet too: https://twitter.com/gavkar/status/509572966753894400