iPad

From the Wired Gadget Lab comes an interesting story on the A4 chip. Wired claims that the chip is a SOC with the following components:

• ARM’s Cortex A8 single-core processor – http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/cortex-a8.php
• Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX GPU – http://www.imgtec.com/PowerVR/sgx.asp

Here is a quote regarding PA Semi’s role in the chip development:

If the A4 SOC’s parts were outsourced, the role of PA Semi, a semiconductor manufacturer that Apple acquired in April 2008, remains unclear. Stokes speculates that the PA Semi team may have helped optimize the A4 to extend battery life for the iPad, which Apple claims will last 10 hours with active usage and one month on standby.

Read more at the Wired’s site here.

A quick note on a brief article published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (link):

The article focuses on Apple’s decision to go with A4 instead of Intel or Qualcomm’s chips. I reckon this topic will become more discussed in next couple of months as it underline’s Apple’s strategic decision to keep focus on hardware in order to shape its future growth.

Also, I’ve seen a number of iPad unit sales volume projections for the iPad but interestingly enough Goldman’s projection seems to keep popping more frequently than others.

Goldman Sachs estimates that Apple will sell 6 million iPads this year. By contrast, the market for mobile phones will reach 1 billion units and PC sales will be about 300 million. Still, the iPad is a high-profile attempt to crack a market that Qualcomm and Intel have set their sights on, said Jagdish Rebello, an analyst at research firm ISuppli Corp.

“Intel would have wanted to get into this device, Qualcomm would have wanted to get into this device,” Rebello said. He also expects Apple to use the A4 in future models of the iPhone.

“IPad is powered by our own custom silicon,” Jobs said at the iPad’s introduction. “We have an incredible group that does custom silicon at Apple.”

The A4 image comes to you via iFixit’s Twitter feed