Speculation: the A4 is PowerPC and OS4.0 Will Double it's Speed

[JohnnyApple]

As we've discussed on this site plenty of times before (and the Internet has beaten it to death as well) - Apple's decision to require all apps that run on the iPad (and iPhone) be built in Xcode is curious and somewhat ridiculous.

Many chalked it up to Apple wanting control and to make sure that competition (Flash, others) didn't have a chance to really grow on the platforms that Apple controls.... but what if that were not true at all.

What if, Apple really put a different CPU into these newer devices (The A4) and is actually running ARM emulation to be backwards compatible. What if OS4.0 gave Xcode compiled code the ability to run natively on these devices and instantly we saw a 50% speed improvement on these devices.... would that make the sacrifice of being able to code in other frameworks less of a problem?

Before you say this is not really possible, consider what we have taken for granted: The A4 is an ARM based CPU. We don't know this for sure... the die size of the CPU is much larger then it needs to be to support this CPU. In addition, the PA Semi team that apple purchased was actually working on low power PowerPC dual core CPU's.

This article breaks it down in more detail and is a great read for the speculators and conspiracy theorists out there: The Genius in Apple's Vertical Platform - steve's blog

 

[gentlefury]

If this is true that would mean OSX Leopard could technically be ported to the iPad. And upcoming iPad OS could be really crazy. Could be why its delayed till fall.

Guess the really insane thing is...if it really is PowerPC based it would be as powerful as the G4 iBook...LOL.

If this is true, it would also make linux dual boot (or maybe even live boot thru the usb adapter) possible.

 

[kheldour]

this whole things starts to become more and more interesting.....

 

[Finnedog]

And in plain English what did the previous posts mean for what my iPad will do at Christmas time???

 

[JohnnyApple]

And in plain English what did the previous posts mean for what my iPad will do at Christmas time???

In plain English, there is an off chance that the speed will be (near)Doubled

 

[kheldour]

when I read these kind of news (and speculations), then I get excited and a little bit scared. Apple WILL reinvent computing and the iPhone and iPad are just the beginning.

The iPad will become the iPod for newspapers, magazines and books, as long as these companies stop charging outrageous $5.00 for each magazine. Depending on the pricing, the iBook-Store will be a bummer.

In combination with new chips (like the A4) and their capabilities, they would be able to even transform the MacBooks into multitouch-computers, where you don't need a fixed keyboard, unless you really want one.

The challenge for Apple is the education process for the users. The iPad will be the "teacher" and pathfinder.

 

[iBud]

I can't see it happening without killing battery time.
Yeah it would be a good thing but how can you double the power of a CPU?
Are current owners going to get twice the power with some sort of update or are we going to be crying on our iPad's when APPLE releases "new" ones with the better CPU?

 

[Dorje]

Does this kind of speculation even match up with the tech tear downs the iPad has been getting? I though the A4 was x-rayed and shows an ARM. I though the bigger size was due to the RAM being packed into it and close to the core.

If so it seems a poor choice on Apples part to have slowly frozen out PowerPC emulation (elmnination of Classic, even if put in it's own lock box). It doesn't seem to match up at all. I could see going forward the need to have Apps bulit and adaptable to changing portable porcessors in the iDevices, and more likely to cross-breed iPhoneOS Apps with OSX as widgets or micro-programs whenever Apple makes a touch iMac.

For a non-enginer this doesn't even sound right. Reading some of the comments on the linked article makes me think this is a bunch of bunk.