It's really the GPU number that throws me off at 8.3%, CPU is fine at 16%. Scaling GPU with more transistors is straightforward, but it seems like they didn't do that this time and this was just an iterative improvement and keeps the overall 4-core design from A13 with potentially higher clocks to take advantage of the new process node.Only Apple could introduce a CPU that's 16% faster than last year's and have people say "why so small an increase?"
Fair! More worried about the 8% GPU increase, which sounds like "we put the A13 GPU on N5." But I'm getting talked into the idea that they moved graphics engineers onto another pipeline, and we'll see a new GPU core debut with a Mac or iPad Pro.Only Apple could introduce a CPU that's 16% faster than last year's and have people say "why so small an increase?"
Were... no changes made to the GPU core? This is an odd time for Apple to be phoning in graphics design. Intel is increasing the EU count in their iGPU by 50% and pushing their iGPU clocks by 20%. As it stands the A14 won't outcompete Tiger Lake. Sure, Apple can fix that by slapping down 7-8 of these in an A14X, but how do they scale up to provide performance on par with the Radeon Pro 5600M?
Homepods from 2 years ago use A8 (if I recall this is TSMC 20nm) and 1GB of ram. I heard speculations the Homepods may get an update soon.No. They are still shipping A10 in the form of the iPod touch. Also, Apple TV 4K is A10X (not A10).
Fair! More worried about the 8% GPU increase, which sounds like "we put the A13 GPU on N5." But I'm getting talked into the idea that they moved graphics engineers onto another pipeline, and we'll see a new GPU core debut with a Mac or iPad Pro.
Indeed. I've been saying that A14 is more than fast enough to run a MacBook non-Pro, but others have rightly argued that from a marketing point of view that could prove more difficult and the fact is that they don't need to go with A14 from a power utilization perspective. An A14X or A14X variant (either at the same speed as the iPad Pro or else maybe even downclocked) would mean a very big increase in MacBook performance while at about the same power usage. A revival of the 12" MacBook line with fanless A14X is feasible, even if A14 non-X is fast enough.I'm looking forward to AT's eventual deep dive on this chip. Raw performance gains may not be impressive, but that could always be a case of greater focus on efficiency.
Considering these are SoCs for mobile devices that's just as important as the raw power capabilities. Apple blows everyone else out of the water when it comes to the raw performance anyhow so it isn't as though they're getting left behind if the actual uplift is low double-digits.
I don't think there's any doubt that the A14X will be larger and devote more die area to the GPU. We've already seen Apple double GPU cores with the A12X.Well it depends on what Apple is targeting, and what gets targeted. As pointed out, this is the regular A14 that will go in the phone. Does the phone need a big increase in GPU performance this year? It sounds like they felt the biggest increase was needed in NPU performance. This is designed for the phone, the iPad Air is not the high end tablet so it gets what the phone needs not the other way around.
Based on the performance increase claimed for the NPU, it would appear they doubled the number of transistors devoted to it. Maybe they need that to begin their AR push, or other initiatives that will become clear later.
The A14X (and whatever goes into the soon to be released Macs, if it is separate from the A14X) will obviously have additional transistors beyond the two additional big cores. If the goals for the products it goes into are different than the goals of the phone, it may see more area dedicated to the GPU and a resulting performance increase.
I'm looking forward to AT's eventual deep dive on this chip. Raw performance gains may not be impressive, but that could always be a case of greater focus on efficiency.
Considering these are SoCs for mobile devices that's just as important as the raw power capabilities. Apple blows everyone else out of the water when it comes to the raw performance anyhow so it isn't as though they're getting left behind if the actual uplift is low double-digits.
Yeah, I looked at it again and they definitely said "compared to the previous iPad Air." They also say "40% more transistors than our seven nanometer chip" which, well, the A12 is 7nm.
Great catch. Well, that settles it.
The performance of the CPU is in line with expectations. Though I believe they don't specify that the performance cores are what have a 40% performance boost - they talk about all the CPU cores in the aggregate. Given the considerable boost the A13 Thunder cores got over their A12 variants, this leaves room for doubt on the new A14 perf cores.
But the GPU boost of ~8% over the A13 is... very close to the frequency difference between the 7nm+ and 5nm. Suspiciously close.
Were... no changes made to the GPU core? This is an odd time for Apple to be phoning in graphics design. Intel is increasing the EU count in their iGPU by 50% and pushing their iGPU clocks by 20%. As it stands the A14 won't outcompete Tiger Lake. Sure, Apple can fix that by slapping down 7-8 of these in an A14X, but how do they scale up to provide performance on par with the Radeon Pro 5600M?
I'm looking forward to AT's eventual deep dive on this chip. Raw performance gains may not be impressive, but that could always be a case of greater focus on efficiency.
Considering these are SoCs for mobile devices that's just as important as the raw power capabilities. Apple blows everyone else out of the water when it comes to the raw performance anyhow so it isn't as though they're getting left behind if the actual uplift is low double-digits.
Fab18-P1 and Fab18-P2 look pretty much up and running via google maps.DigiTimes is claiming that Apple has filled up all of TMSC's 5 nm capacity.
Maybe with the Apple Silicon Macs, Apple just hit the wall in terms of how much can be renewed every year?
Are you trying to say Apple has stockpiled enough A14 chips in Q1 2020? That doesn’t seem right to me.Fab18-P1 and Fab18-P2 look pretty much up and running via google maps.
View attachment 29964
Basically, there is two 40K+ fabs running right now. With that third one running in 2021 making N5 in larger quantity than N10/N7/N6 combined.
Q1-2020 => Apple orders 45,000 wafers for all three months => 15,000 wafers top per month // 25K wpm (w/o P2) left over
Q4-2020 => Apple orders 5,000-6,000 wafers for one month => 18,000 wafers top for all three months. // 220K wpq left over
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If anything Apple is down-ramping as it has everything already.
Based on 125 mm2 die being worst-case. Q1-Q3 is about ~18+ million devices. There is a down ramp not a up ramp for Q4 2020. So, the indication is that they enough of what they need to down ramp. Even then, they have never used TSMC 5nm full capacity.Are you trying to say Apple has stockpiled enough A14 chips in Q1 2020? That doesn’t seem right to me.
Yields have been good since 2019. - TSMC announced it with a 512 Mb Cache and CPU/GPU/etc test chip.I realize that DigiTimes isn’t the most reliable source, but how does a satellite photo of a building exterior indicate that they have 5 nm production ramped up and at good yields?
I'm guessing but I consider that unlikely, considering that Apple has only started including VP9 support this year.Does it have AV1 decode?
Yes, and I think they chose their wording carefully, as "volume production" is not necessarily the same thing as "mass production" at iPhone SoC levels. Furthermore, even disregarding that caveat, that is in Q2 already, not the Q1 you were claiming.Q1 2020 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd Earnings Call:
"N5 is already in volume production with good yield." - APRIL 16, 2020TSMC 2022 Q2 Quarterly Results - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
2022 Q2 Quarterly Results quarterly financial statements, presentation material, management report, earnings release earnings conference transcript. For more details regarding, please refer to TSMC IR website.www.tsmc.com