Imagination Technologies Announces PowerVR Series6XT Successor to Apple's A7 Chip Graphics

Imagination Technologies yesterday announced a new Series6XT generation of its PowerVR graphics architecture, representing a successor to the Series6 graphics used in Apple's A7 chip for the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad mini.

Series6XT cores achieve up to a 50% performance increase on the latest industry standard benchmarks compared to equivalent configurations of previous generation cores. And with a significant increase in raw GFLOPS, Series6XT delivers the industry’s best performance in both GFLOPS/mm2 and GFLOPS/mW.

powervr_series6xt_roadmap
Apple currently uses Imagination's quad-core G6430 graphics in the A7, and the new Series6XT architecture brings a GX6450 model as a direct successor with potential for inclusion in future Apple A-series chips. But as noted by AnandTech, typical lead times on moving from licensing announcement to consumer availability suggest that these new graphics options may not appear in shipping chips until the latter half of 2015.

Series6XT is designed to be a moderate feature upgrade and power/performance optimization pass for Series6, integrating various innovations over the past couple of years to keep Imagination’s designs performance and feature competitive. Series6XT comes 2 years after Series6 licensing was announced at CES 2012, and roughly half a year after the first SoCs implementing Series6 GPUs were released to consumers.

Apple has used versions of PowerVR graphics throughout its history of iOS device chip development, leading all the way back to the original iPhone in 2007. In line with Apple's preference for Imagination's graphics offerings, Apple has been a leading investor in the graphics company for some time, making several purchases that pushed its ownership stake in Imagination to nearly 10% by mid-2009.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
iphone air concept weis

iPhone 17 Air Could Look Like This in Real Life

Friday February 14, 2025 3:41 am PST by
There have been several alleged leaked details of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's rumored new slim iPhone, but images have been limited to grainy shots taken in component factories. However, this hyper-realistic concept created by WEIS Studio gives us the best idea yet of what Apple's thin device might actually look like. The concept design is inspired by recent leaks indicating that the device...
m2 pro mac mini

Apple is Now Selling a Refurbished Mac Mini for Just $319 (!)

Saturday February 15, 2025 9:58 am PST by
A few days ago, we reported that Apple's refurbished Mac mini pricing had a problem, and it appears that Apple has taken note. Apple was offering a refurbished Mac mini with the M2 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage for $559, which was $50 more than a refurbished Mac mini with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. All other key specifications were equal. That's no longer...
Apple Maps 2024

Apple Maps Might Start Showing Ads

Sunday February 16, 2025 7:22 am PST by
Apple is "exploring" the idea of showing search ads in the Apple Maps app, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Back in 2022, Gurman said software engineering was "already underway" to display ads in the Apple Maps app, but Apple did not move forward with the idea at the time. Today, he said Apple is "giving this notion more thought" again. This time around, he said Apple has yet to...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
M4 Mac mini Apple Video

Apple's Refurbished Mac Mini Pricing Has a Problem

Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum. In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs. The issue is...

Top Rated Comments

Twimfy Avatar
145 months ago
PowerVR, sounds like a cheap 90s live action super hero series.

PowerVR has been around since the early 90's. Maybe 90's live action super hero series sound like a graphics chip.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrmjenkins Avatar
145 months ago
Series 6 was a major IP shift. 6XT is comparatively much more modest. I'd compare it to SGX540, 545, 554 being added to the series 5 line after the 535 already existed. Their times to market were shorter.

554 announce to market for Apple's Ipad was 22 months. Though unlikely, I wouldn't totally rule out an Apple A8 with a 6XT graphics IP block in it.

It's important to remember that Apple is around a 10% owner in ImgTec. If anyone has early IP access, it's them.

edit: Most importantly, G6430 announce to A7 inclusion: 15 months.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tankmaze Avatar
145 months ago
50% increase from current chip huh ? well thats gonna help power the bigger display and new screen res for the iphone 6 :D
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)