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The Godfather · Oct 4, 2011, 12:03 AM

Just looking at the A5 iPad battery compared to the A4 iPad, 50% bigger. I have a strong feeling that that the iPad2 will remain the queen of the iOS devices, unlike what happened in the A4 generation. My gut feeling is that the iPhone 5 will be clocked at 66% of the iPad, but retain both cores.
And there will be moaning and complaining, and millions will stop themselves before going to spend their money on something that is closer to an iPhone4 than something we've been waiting for longer than an elephant's pregnancy.

Spheric Harlot · Oct 4, 2011, 01:19 AM

There will be no moaning, because nobody will give a shit.

P · Oct 4, 2011, 05:45 AM

Gut feeling: same 800 MHz as the current iPhone to avoid potential performance regressions in edge cases (the iPad 2 runs at 1 GHz).

I really would like an A5+ - a straight threadshrink, as 45nm is big thse days - but there are no rumors to that effect.

The Godfather · Oct 10, 2011, 02:33 PM

At least it won't have less RAM than the February iPad.
iPhone 4S still limited to just 512MB of RAM? | Electronista

SSharon · Oct 10, 2011, 02:45 PM

If the 4S can get by on an underclocked processor then Siri should be able to run on an iPhone 4. I think power management might shut off a core when it needs to, but I don't think the entire chip will be underclocked.

Waragainstsleep · Oct 10, 2011, 04:28 PM

The iPhone 4/S case is much smaller than the iPad and glass instead of metal so it would make perfect sense to underclock it a bit given the inferior heat dissipation. Cheer up though Godfather for goodness sake. Its selling well and Siri looks awesome, a real game changer.

The Godfather · Oct 10, 2011, 06:18 PM

I am trying to see the 4S in the best light, really. But there's no dealmaker yet, that would make me sign a 2-year contract with a telco.

SierraDragon · Oct 10, 2011, 06:58 PM

I guess you are not coming from a 3G like I am, where everything about the 4s is a dealmaker.

imitchellg5 · Oct 10, 2011, 07:42 PM

I would be surprised if the 4S wasn't underclocked.

P · Oct 11, 2011, 03:42 AM

Originally Posted by SSharon

If the 4S can get by on an underclocked processor then Siri should be able to run on an iPhone 4. I think power management might shut off a core when it needs to, but I don't think the entire chip will be underclocked.

You're missing the point. The iPhone 4 uses an A4 processor clocked at 800 MHz, which is less than the 1GHz in the iPad. The 4S uses an A5 processor at an unknown clockspeed, which we're guessing is less than the 1 GHz in the iPad 2. If it is 800 MHz, it will still be way faster than the A4 in the iPhone 4. It would have to be clocked much lower to be of equal performance to the A4.

Waragainstsleep · Oct 11, 2011, 03:50 AM

Macrumours says yes:

iPhone 4S Geekbench Benchmarks ~68% Faster than iPhone 4 - Mac Rumors

Eug · Oct 11, 2011, 08:41 PM

According to AnandTech's benchmarks, it's roughly around 800 MHz (x2), going by the comparison to the iPad 2's 1 GHz (x2).

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

I guess you are not coming from a 3G like I am, where everything about the 4s is a dealmaker.

Even the 3GS feels way faster than the 3G. And the 4 totally blows it away.

That said, the 4 isn't exactly fast. The iPad 2 feels noticeably faster (obviously), although it's not exactly a barn burner either. For a phone it'd be very good though. The iPhone 4S should feel quite peppy for a smartphone.

The Godfather · Oct 11, 2011, 09:17 PM

Just for the record (which makes little sense as this forum deletes all month-old threads), the iPad2 is 1/6th of the way to match a G4/500's performance and be considered a lethal warfaring weapon. The iPhone 4S is, by my calculation, 1/8th of the way there.
Ars reviews the iPad 2: big performance gains in a slimmer package
Benchmark your iPod/iPhone with this. App Store - Linpack

Eug · 11:08 PM

Isn't FP usually notoriously bad, by design, on ARM processors? If so, that flops bench is even more meaningless here.

OTOH, the A5 can encode 1080p30 H.264 on the fly, which is far more important. 1080p encoding has been my "holy grail" benchmark task for smartphones. The next step is not to encode higher rez H.264, but to encode it with higher video quality settings.

BTW, this paper talks a little about ARM benchmarks and SPEC. I am not an engineer though, so don't ask me to interpret it.

I am looking forward to the rumoured 28/32 nm ARM Cortex A15 based Apple A6 chips in 2012. That will make for a very fast iPhone 5, esp. if matched with 1 GB RAM. I have a G4 450 at home running 10.5.8, and in reality for basic usage I get more out of an A5 (iPad 2) than I get out of that.

Maybe with a dual-core 1 GHz A15-based A6, I can actually play multiple animated GIFs quickly.

Spheric Harlot · Oct 12, 2011, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by The Godfather

Just for the record (which makes little sense as this forum deletes all month-old threads)

what? No it doesn't!