Apple’s A5

The Apple A5 is the next generation chip designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung to replace the Apple A4. The first device to feature the A5 was the iPad 2 and now can also be found in the iPhone 4S.

The A5 is a dual-core processor meaning it has two separate cores on the same die and each has its own cache memory allowing the two to act virtually independent from one another. The A5 is said to be clocked at 1 GHz but it can accommodate to save battery life.

The chip has an image signal processor unit to do advanced image processing like face detection, white balance and automatic image stabilization. It can do so because the CPU is twice as powerful and GPU is seven times as powerful as compared to the Apple A4.

The A5 package contains 512 MB of low-power DDR2 RAM clocked at 533 MHz which might not be a lot but using an iPad 2 on a daily basis, i am fascinated by how fast applications run and the smoothness of going from one app to the next.

Image credit goes to Wikipedia