Apple A8

The A8 is manufactured on a 20 nm process{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Ryan |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8504/apple-announces-a8-soc |title=Apple Announces A8 SoC |publisher=AnandTech |date=September 9, 2014 |access-date=September 9, 2014 |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910200128/http://www.anandtech.com/show/8504/apple-announces-a8-soc |url-status=live }} by TSMC, which replaced Samsung as the manufacturer of Apple's mobile device processors. It contains 2 billion transistors. Despite having twice the number of transistors of the A7, the A8's physical size has been reduced by 13% to {{Convert|89|mm2|in2|abbr=on}}. The A8 uses LPDDR3-1333 RAM on a 64-bit memory interface; in the iPhone 6/6 Plus, sixth generation iPod Touch, and HomePod, the A8 has 1 GB RAM included in the package. Meanwhile, the A8 in the iPad Mini 4 and 4th generation Apple TV is packaged with 2 GB RAM.{{cite web |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/9615/apple-announces-the-ipad-mini-4 |first=Brandon |last=Chester |title=Apple Announces the iPad Pro and iPad Mini 4 |publisher=AnandTech |date=September 9, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009060117/http://www.anandtech.com/show/9615/apple-announces-the-ipad-mini-4 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/tvos/documentation/General/Conceptual/AppleTV_PG/ |title=The New Apple TV |publisher=Apple Inc. |date=September 9, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909235117/https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/tvos/documentation/General/Conceptual/AppleTV_PG/ |url-status=live }}

The A8 CPU has a per-core L1 cache of 64 KB for data and 64 KB for instructions, an L2 cache of 1 MB shared by both CPU cores, and a 4 MB L3 cache that services the entire SoC. As its predecessor, it has a 6 decode, 6 issue, 9 wide, out-of-order design.

The processor is dual core, and as used in the iPhone 6 has a frequency of 1.4 GHz, supporting Apple's claim of it being 25% faster than the A7.{{Cite web |url=http://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/09/iphone-6-geekbench-1-4-ghz-dual-core-a8-1gb-ram/ |title=Alleged iPhone 6 Geekbench Results Reveal 1.4 GHz Dual-Core A8 Chip, 1 GB of RAM |access-date=2014-09-09 |archive-date=2014-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911002142/http://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/09/iphone-6-geekbench-1-4-ghz-dual-core-a8-1gb-ram/ |url-status=live }} It also supports the notion of this being a second generation{{Cite web |url=https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/technology/ |title=Apple - iPhone 6 - Technology |access-date=2014-10-18 |archive-date=2014-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909194049/https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/technology/ |url-status=live }} enhanced Cyclone core called Typhoon, and not an entirely new architecture which would supposedly mean a more significant performance gain per Hz.

The A8 also integrates a graphics processing unit (GPU) which is a 4-shader-cluster PowerVR Series 6XT.{{cite web |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8554/the-iphone-6-review/4 |title=The iPhone 6 Review: A8's GPU: Imagination Technologies' PowerVR GX6450 |publisher=AnandTech |date=September 30, 2014 |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=October 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001023540/http://anandtech.com/show/8554/the-iphone-6-review/4 |url-status=live }} However the GPU features custom shader cores designed by Apple.

On October 16, 2014, Apple introduced a variant of the A8, the A8X, in the iPad Air 2. Compared with the A8, the A8X has an enhanced 8-shader-cluster GPU and improved CPU performance due to one extra core and higher frequency.

The A8 has video codec encoding support for H.264. It has decoding support for H.264, MPEG‑4, and Motion JPEG.{{Cite web |title=iPhone 6 - Technical Specifications |url=https://support.apple.com/kb/SP705?locale=en_US |access-date=2022-11-05 |website=support.apple.com}}

The A8's branch predictor has been claimed to infringe on a 1998 patent.{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/04/cupertino_copied_processor_pipelining_claims_wisconsin_u/ |title=Cupertino copied processor pipelining claims Wisconsin U |last1=Chirgwin |first1=Richard |date=February 4, 2014 |website=www.theregister.co.uk |publisher=The Register |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-date=February 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204072902/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/04/cupertino_copied_processor_pipelining_claims_wisconsin_u/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/apple-faces-862m-patent-damage-claim-from-university-of-wisconsin/|title=Apple faces $862M patent damage claim from University of Wisconsin|author=Joe Mullin|date=October 14, 2015|access-date=October 14, 2015|publisher=Ars Technica|archive-date=April 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420045722/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/apple-faces-862m-patent-damage-claim-from-university-of-wisconsin/|url-status=live}} On October 14, 2015, a district judge found Apple guilty of infringing U.S. patent {{patent|US|5781752}}, "Table based data speculation circuit for parallel processing computer", on the Apple A7 and A8 processors. The patent is owned by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a firm affiliated with the University of Wisconsin. On July 24, 2017, Apple was ordered to pay WARF $506 million for patent infringement. Apple filed an appellate brief on October 26, 2017, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that argued that Apple did not infringe on the patent owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ip-patent-apple/apple-urges-appeals-court-to-toss-506-million-patent-loss-to-warf-idUSL2N1N12RW |title=Apple urges appeals court to toss $506 million patent loss to WARF |last=Wolfe |first=Jan |publisher=Reuters |date=October 26, 2017 |access-date=February 22, 2018 |archive-date=February 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223050957/https://www.reuters.com/article/ip-patent-apple/apple-urges-appeals-court-to-toss-506-million-patent-loss-to-warf-idUSL2N1N12RW |url-status=live }} On September 28, 2018, the ruling was overturned on appeal and the award thrown out by the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-decision-patent/apple-wins-reversal-in-university-of-wisconsin-patent-lawsuit-idUSKCN1M81TV |title=Apple wins reversal in University of Wisconsin patent lawsuit |last=Stempel |first=Jonathan |publisher=Reuters |date=September 28, 2018 |access-date=November 17, 2018 |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117105059/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-decision-patent/apple-wins-reversal-in-university-of-wisconsin-patent-lawsuit-idUSKCN1M81TV |url-status=live }} The patent expired in December 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ip-apple-patent-idUSKBN1AB023 |title=Apple ordered to pay $506 million to university in patent dispute |last=Wolfe |first=Jan |publisher=Reuters |date=July 25, 2017 |access-date=July 26, 2017 |archive-date=July 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726015547/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ip-apple-patent-idUSKBN1AB023 |url-status=live }}

• iPhone 6 & 6 Plus
• iPod Touch (6th generation)
• iPad Mini 4
• Apple TV HD (formerly 4th generation)
• HomePod (1st generation)

File:A8 APL1011 iPhone6 mlb 820-3486-A.jpg

• Apple silicon, the range of ARM-based processors designed by Apple
• Comparison of ARMv8-A cores
• Apple A8X

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{{refn|name=manuf |group=note |Most analysts have reported that the Apple A8 is manufactured by TSMC, including Chipworks, Techinsights,{{cite web |url=http://www.techinsights.com/reports-and-subscriptions/open-market-reports/Report-Profile/?ReportKey=10664 |title=Logic Detailed Structural Analysis of the 20 nm Node, TSMC Fabricated Apple A8 APL1011 |publisher=Techinsights |date=August 28, 2015 |access-date=December 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208101626/http://www.techinsights.com/reports-and-subscriptions/open-market-reports/Report-Profile/?ReportKey=10664 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |url-status=dead }} and AnandTech.{{cite news |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-review/2 |title=The Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus Review: Analyzing Apple A9's SoC |first=Joshua |last=Ho |publisher=AnandTech |date=November 2, 2015 |access-date=December 3, 2015 |archive-date=December 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204121611/http://anandtech.com/show/9686/the-apple-iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-review/2 |url-status=live }} An analyst at IHS reports that manufacturing is split, with TSMC manufacturing about 60 percent and Samsung manufacturing about 40 percent.{{cite web |url=http://recode.net/2014/09/23/teardown-shows-apples-iphone-6-cost-at-least-200-to-build/ |title=Teardown Shows Apple's iPhone 6 Cost at Least $200 to Build |first=Arik |last=Hesseldahl |publisher=Re/code |date=September 23, 2014 |access-date=December 1, 2015 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208191255/http://recode.net/2014/09/23/teardown-shows-apples-iphone-6-cost-at-least-200-to-build/ |url-status=live }}}}

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Category:Computer-related introductions in 2014

Category:Products and services discontinued in 2019

Category:Products and services discontinued in 2022

Category:Apple silicon