„A Look Inside Apple’s Custom GPU for the iPhone”
Das iPhone startete im Jahr 2007 mit einem Samsung ARM-Prozessor (S5L8900) und wechselte erst mit dem iPhone 5 auf einen eigenen Chip.
Der Grafikprozessor der iPhones stammt bislang von Imagination Technologies (PowerVR) – Apple modifiziert hier derzeit nur mit. Die GPU-Architektur scheint inzwischen jedoch auf dem gleichen Pfad wie die CPU.
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.
