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iPad Mini Confirmed to Run 32-Nanometer A5 Chip from Samsung

Thursday November 1, 2012 1:26 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
While iFixit was busy tearing down the iPad mini earlier today, Chipworks was taking a closer look at the chips included in the device. The item of most interest is of course the A5 system-on-a-chip, and Chipworks has unsurprisingly confirmed that the iPad mini uses a chip manufactured by Samsung on a 32-nanometer process.

The A5 originally appeared based on a 45-nanometer process, but Apple quietly shifted to a smaller and more efficient 32-nanometer process earlier this year with the launch of the revised iPad 2 and the third-generation Apple TV back in April. The same chip made its way into the fifth-generation iPod touch last month, so it should not be a surprise that the A5 used in the iPad mini is the same part.
Remember the past, when Apple launched the Apple A5X to great fanfare? When the A5X launched, Apple also snuck in a change to the process generation in their A5 chip by putting a new 32 nm version inside the iPad2 and Apple TV3. Apple (likely) plays it this way because they don’t want people evaluating their products based on “commodity” technical specifications, but based on the overall experience with the device.

Because of this past behavior, there has been some speculation on the web as to whether they would do the same thing with the latest generation of Apple A5 processor. A new process for a new product. Maybe even a new foundry partner?

The answer is no.

Cross-sections of the A5 chip from the iPad mini appear identical to those from other recent A5 chips, indicating that Samsung is indeed still the supplier for the main chip used in Apple's iOS devices. Apple's has been rumored to be trying to move chip production to TSMC, but the process has been a slow one as Apple seeks to strike a deal and ensure that technical considerations will not hinder the shift.

Related Roundup: iPad mini 5
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Don't Buy)
[ 86 comments ]


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D.T.
81 months ago
I would've preferred if it had an A6, and a better GPU with a retina screen. Heck, I don't even care if it was physically bigger with a larger display...

... oh wait.
Rating: 14 Votes
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MultiMediaWill
81 months ago
Apple is gonna sue themselves
Rating: 8 Votes
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nick_elt
81 months ago
Still would prefer an a6 with 1gig ram. I want a mini ipad, not a watered down mini ipad.

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How about RAM?


512mb only
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
MikeAK
81 months ago
I can't believe people are buying the mini at this price point. It's already obsolete. I give it 3 months and we're going to start seeing people talk about how there mini is so sluggish.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
iGrip
81 months ago
apple really needs Samsung's expertise. For all the bitching and moaning by some that they would never buy a Samsung product, because Samsung is some sort of evil incarnate of a company, and for all the prognostications that Apple will drop Samsung and somehow leave them high and dry, it seems that Apple needs Samsung. Without Samsung, Apple would be in big trouble.

Nobody has the expertise of Samsung. Nobody compares.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
_Refurbished_
81 months ago

I would've preferred if it had an A6, and a better GPU with a retina screen. Heck, I don't even care if it was physically bigger with a larger display...

... oh wait.


Comment winner.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
pgiguere1
81 months ago
Apple has switched their entire product line to 32nm.

The early iPad 4 release was probably only to abandon 45nm completely, as the iPad 3 was their last product to use a 45nm chip (A5X). The iPad 2, iPhone 5, Apple TV and iPod touch had all moved to 32nm already. Counterintuitively, the A6X is probably cheaper to produce than the A5X because of this.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Chrjy
81 months ago

For this price and the release date it is absolutely obsolete. We can argue about whether retina shoulda/coulda. But the A5 and system memory is a disgrace. This is a cash grab for Apple plain and simple.


I think people misunderstand memory. As long as the developer uses and releases memory as and when needed, 512MB is fine. Of course it's always nice to have more memory but ultimately only if you have a number of apps open which of course the iPad doesn't do the same way as a standard desktop/laptop.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Chrjy
81 months ago

Yes thats fine for now, but whos to say future apps wnt use more memory. 512mb IS NOT the future. Heck even my phone has 2gig.


That's a ridiculous thing to say because essentially 1GB IS NOT the future, neither is 2GB neither is 3GB...see where I'm going with this?!

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If the mini had Microsoft or Google attached to it then folks around here would have been laughing as soon as the price was released to the public.


I guess that depends whether the people you're referring to are spec junkies and they fully understand how memory works or not as the case is normally.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
DJinTX
81 months ago

I can't believe people are buying the mini at this price point. It's already obsolete. I give it 3 months and we're going to start seeing people talk about how there mini is so sluggish.


Why would this be? My wife has had her iPad2 since launch day and it hasn't become sluggish in that year and a half time span. Why would the mini suddenly become slow after 90 days of usage?
Rating: 4 Votes

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