Apple A6X

The Apple A6X is a 32-bit system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., introduced at the launch of the 4th generation iPad on October 23, 2012. It is a high-performance variant of the Apple A6 and the last 32-bit chip Apple used on an iOS device before Apple switched to 64-bit. Apple claims the A6X has twice the CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, the Apple A5X.[6] Software updates for the 4th generation iPad ended in 2019 with the release of iOS 10.3.4 for cellular models, thus ceasing support for this chip as it was discontinued with the release of iOS 11 in 2017.

Apple A6X
The A6X chip used in the fourth-generation iPad
General information
LaunchedNovember 2, 2012
DiscontinuedOctober 16, 2014
Designed byApple Inc.
Common manufacturer(s)
Product codeS5L8955X
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate1.4 GHz[1] 
Cache
L1 cache32 KB instruction + 32 KB data[2]
L2 cache1 MB[3]
Architecture and classification
ApplicationMobile
Technology node32 nm.[4]
MicroarchitectureSwift[1]
Instruction setARMv7-A:[1] ARM, Thumb-2 with "armv7s" extensions (integer division, VFPv4, Advanced SIMDv2)[5]
Physical specifications
Cores
GPU(s)PowerVR SGX554MP4 (quad-core)[1]
Products, models, variants
Variant(s)
History
Predecessor(s)Apple A5X
Successor(s)Apple A7 (APL5698 variant)

Design

The A6X features a 1.4 GHz custom Apple-designed ARMv7-A architecture based dual-core CPU called Swift,[1] introduced in the Apple A6.[7] It includes an integrated quad-core PowerVR SGX554MP4 graphics processing unit (GPU)[1] running at 300 MHz and a quad-channel memory subsystem.[1] The memory subsystem supports LPDDR2-1066 DRAM, increasing the theoretical memory bandwidth to 17 GB/s.[3]

Unlike the A6, but similar to the A5X, the A6X is covered with a metal heat spreader, includes no RAM, and is not a package-on-package (PoP) assembly. The A6X is manufactured by Samsung on a High-κ metal gate (HKMG) 32 nm process. It has a die with an area of 123 mm2, 30% larger than the A6.[4]

Products that include the Apple A6X

See also

References
  1. Lal Shimpi, Anand (November 2, 2012). "iPad 4 GPU Performance Analyzed: PowerVR SGX 554MP4 Under the Hood". AnandTech. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  2. "iPad (4th generation)". Geekbench. September 12, 2013. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  3. Lal Shimpi, Anand (December 6, 2012). "iPad 4 (Late 2012) Review: CPU Performance". AnandTech. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  4. "Inside the Apple iPad 4 – A6X a very new beast!". Chipworks. November 1, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  5. "A few things iOS developers ought to know about the ARM architecture – Wandering Coder". Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  6. "Apple Introduces iPad mini". Apple. October 23, 2012. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  7. Lal Shimpi, Anand; Klug, Brian; Gowri, Vivek (October 16, 2012). "The iPhone 5 Review - Decoding Swift". AnandTech. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
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