Apple allegedly building a custom GPU architecture

[asim1999]

 

 

According to a new report from Fudzilla, Apple is secretly working on its own mobile graphics chip. Apple is said to be investigating custom mobile GPU architectures for a few years now, but the report mentions that the efforts have yet to yield satisfying results. 

 

As per insider sources paraphrased in the report, the first Apple Ax SoC to integrate a custom GPU architecture might be as far as a few years away from now. Despite what seems like slow progress, however, the tech giant is said to heavily invested down this path.

Benchmark tests have shown that the PowerVR GPUs - which are designed by Imagination Technologies - that iPads and iPhones have integrated in the past few years are true pixel-rendering powerhouses. As such, if the company is indeed working on a mobile GPU, Apple has probably set the bar very high before an actual rollout across the iPhone and iPad lineups.

The wouldn't be the first time that Apple moves beyond the adoption of a standard architecture and comes up with its own design. Back on September 12, 2012, many were surprised to learn that the A6 SoC - found inside the iPhone 5 - integrates a custom-designed Apple "Swift" CPU architecture based on the ARMv7 architecture. Since then, all of Apple's mobile SoCs came with custom CPU architectures that have impressed in both real world performance as well as synthetic benchmark tests. 

By implementing a custom GPU architecture, Apple would hit two birds with one stone. On one hand, the company should be able to create mobile GPUs that work perfectly in sync with the other elements one the SoC, improving the overall performance in the process. Furthermore, the implementation of a custom GPU would also translate into higher margins on iPhones and iPads, opening up the way to more record-breaking profits.

 

Read more at http://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-is-allegedly-building-a-custom-mobile-GPU-architecture_id76536#4p86ODEzc0u7cUA9.99

Source in description

i \think this is interesting as it would allow Apple to exceed the limits that OEMs have in current GPU tech, plus Apple design great mobile CPUs. However, i can see them using it as a monopoly. as it will be the "latest and greatest" in terms of APIs and the like. Also, i can see Apple using this to create a tiered system, where the biggest and most expensive products have the best GPU performance 

[pagani123]

i am curious as to how this will turn out 

[daniellearmouth]

Huh.

 

Interesting.

 

I wonder if they'll work Metal into it in some way or another.

[asim1999]

Huh.

 

Interesting.

 

I wonder if they'll work Metal into it in some way or another.

I'm sure they will. Maybe that will be the main selling point: a fully dedicated API to the new platform

[Elliott Game]

They are finally inventing something! oh wait..... Nvidia, Intel and AMD all ready has GPU's...

[Decon]

I'd buy an apple VGA

 

not that they'd ever sell one on a PCIe board unless for Dev kits for IOS

[asim1999]

They are finally inventing something! oh wait..... Nvidia, Intel and AMD all ready has GPU's...

Well offering a custom solution from the ground up is new. Apple were sourcing parts from PowerVR. The only other company to do this is Qualcomm, whose Adreno division was originally part of AMD 

[RagnarokDel]

Someone should make a smartphone with a intel cpu and an amd gpu. R9 super nano

 

 

They are finally inventing something! oh wait..... Nvidia, Intel and AMD all ready has GPU's...

 

It's only a mobile gpu

[qwertywarrior]

come on make a baseband chip already

[Mew]

If I was a pessimist, I'd think that this is bad because Apple is hiring all the talented cpu and gpu engineers for themselves, leaving Intel, AMD, and nVidia with nothing. 

[TrigrH]

sounds like a rotten apple to me

[TechGod]

sounds like a rotten apple to me

How???

[TechGod]

They are finally inventing something! oh wait..... Nvidia, Intel and AMD all ready has GPU's...

There never invented anything? You're a massive moron.

[Dobbsjr]

There never invented anything? You're a massive moron.

A quick google search will reveal that they never did.

[RedRound2]

 quick google search will reveal that they never did.

 

Really are you that desperate to bring down Apple? They may not have invented something but they made uncountable useless inventions into something useful that shaped the whole industry (which can be termed as reinvention and innovation, something that most companies lack). If you can't accept this then you're just ignorant

[EmeraldKiwi]

Just imagine:

"The new Apple iPhone 746258. Powered by an A47 processor, and Apple's latest generation of the iGPU, this is the next era of computing power... All. In the palm of your hand. In stores now starting at 250,000$. Also available in 6 unique colors. Add an iWatch to the bundle for only an additional 200,000$..."

[Albatross]

It will be an overpriced turd like the rest of their garbage.

[Tech_Dreamer]

i - gpu? isn't that thing taken or what?

[Dobbsjr]

I'm not trying to "bring apple down" or deny the fact that they have made good products. I'm just saying that they never invented anything.

[TechGod]

A quick google search will reveal that they never did.

WebKit? NVME in phones? 64 bit extensions for ARM? Swift? I'm pretty sure Objecive C,

[TechGod]

I'm not trying to "bring apple down" or deny the fact that they have made good products. I'm just saying that they never invented anything.

They have though.

[Castdeath97]

If I was a pessimist, I'd think that this is bad because Apple is hiring all the talented cpu and gpu engineers for themselves, leaving Intel, AMD, and nVidia with nothing. 

Probably not, mobile GPUs need different engineering skills added to the fact that intel and Nvidia are no short in money and engineers aren't that rare for them to be monopolised.

[Castdeath97]

I'm not trying to "bring apple down" or deny the fact that they have made good products. I'm just saying that they never invented anything.

They reinvent not invent, it was the point behind apple since 1990s "think different".

[captain cactus]

Well we're forgetting that thing which is that Apple already has semi-custom GPUs in their iPhones and iPads. Even though the design may be OEM, Apple usually uses a custom core count for the Ax SoCs. 

[Master Disaster]

Wonder what they'll call it?

iGPU doesn't really work in this case.