ios 6 evidence

New evidence that iOS 6 beta is on its way to WWDC 2012.

Doubtless you’ve heard that iOS 6 beta is all but a lock for the WWDC this year, as reported by a bit of iCloud code recently unearthed by some folks over a 9to5Mac. For as much as the finding is pretty cool, I don’t think that this news should come as a surprise to anyone: Apple has kept the release of new iOS versions pretty consistent. Even last year, when the iPhone release cycle got a bit topsy-turvy, they still at least got the beta version of iOS 5 out for developers to test, all in anticipation for the fall-release iPhone 4S.

In previous years, developers got their hands on beta versions of the new iOS with ample time to test and peruse it so that the alpha version was ready for the WWDC. Thus, the new iPhone was able to ship with the new operating system. There has obviously been no public release of iOS 6 beta prior to the WWDC this year — no one has really seen it, apparently, since it most likely would have leaked — so, this means that the only way the iPhone 5 is coming in June is if ships in late June-early July with iOS 5.1, or maybe a 5.2 build.

The big question is: is that plausible? However you answer it determines whether a June-released iPhone 5 is possible or impossible. Read More

8 COMMENTS | Tags : iOS 6

mini ipadA new rumor has surfaced that the 7-inch “Mini iPad” will indeed debut this year, and given an ultra-low price tag designed to destroy the competition — even at a loss for Apple.

Apple has never been known as a price leader for its consumer electronics products — their iPhone is competitively priced among other top-tier Android and Windows smartphones, and their Mac desktops and laptops are among the most expensive personal computers on the market today. When it comes to the iPad, however, Apple has dominated the tablet sector by keeping its prices steady , and offering price-to-features ratio that its competitors have not been able to match. The only gambit for competing devices like the Kindle and Nook has been to offer smaller, stripped-down tablets at a much lower price point.

Now, it appears that Apple will leverage the rumored 7-inch “Mini iPad” to obliterate the smaller, inexpensive tablet market as well — even if it means taking a loss in order to do it. Read More

39 COMMENTS | Tags : mini ipad

The Mini iPad’s Top Competitors? The New iPad and iPhone 5

Posted by Michael Nace under iPad 3, iPhone 5 Opinion on Saturday Apr 21, 2012

Mini iPad could ruin iPhone 5 and New iPad sales

Production rumors out of Asia indicate that suppliers have received orders to produce components for 6 million Mini iPad units, to be released in the third quarter of 2012. But will a 7-inch Mini iPad’s top competitors in the marketplace be the New iPad and iPhone 5?  

Mini iPad rumors persist, with more whispering coming out of Asia that the tech manufacturing sector is receiving component orders for 6 million units, with a release window sometime in the third quarter. The Chinese-language tech blog Netease, which covers production-related news and rumors for consumer tech, had this to say (via Google Translate): “the appearance of the chassis are arranged by the Hon Hai Group, the new co-operation in some parts partners. In addition to the previous markets confirmed AUO and Shuo Following the New iPad this year, has re-received the iPad Mini Order,” going on to say that, “according to Taiwan media reports, the recent market came iPad Mini supply chain has been finalized, with the exception of David overseas, and the master also won the assembly order.”

Netease appears to be drawing from sources from within the tech manufacturing sector. But for as much as the article points out specific component suppliers purported to have received orders for Mini iPad parts, the sources remain unfounded.

But I found another quote from the Netease article that is worth thinking about:


They also had this to say about the viability of a 7-inch Mini iPad in the consumer tech marketplace: “However, foreign analysts pointed out that if Apple launched a low price the iPad Mini, most affected is probably the market share of more than 60 percent of the iPad, and may generate crowding out effect size similar to the iPhone.” Broken English and yet another unfounded source aside, this is an important consideration: what could the unintended consquences be of releasing the Mini iPad, and could it lead to reduced sales of this year’s New iPad and eventual iPhone 5?

Joanna Stern at ABC News is quick to point out that Steve Jobs was never a fan of the smaller iPad. she had this to say in a recent article:

Steve Jobs had been quite outspoken about smaller tablets; during one earnings call he even said that a 7-inch tablet would be “dead on arrival.” On that same call he said, “While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.”

Jobs’ explanation for why the smaller iPad would be a problem doesn’t include any discussion of how it could affect sales of other Apple devices, or if it could be profitable in an of itself. Though Jobs was also known to have said more than once that the smaller tablet (or large-screened smartphone) can be confounding to consumers, since it strattles both the smartphone and tablet design. As a result, Jobs seemed to be implicitly suggesting that a device like this could in fact hurt the iPhone and full-sized iPad.

In addition, there is even question as to whether or not a Mini iPad can in fact be a profitable product for Apple, based on what we know about the cost of components that go into the current iPads. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNET has an interesting cost breakdown estimate of the Mini iPad, which bears out questions as to how Apple would ever make any money selling it:

“[T]ake a look at the cost of a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 [graphic above]. It’s down as a shade over $245. We can take this as a starting price for the mini iPad. A smaller iPad would have a smaller screen, smaller touch screen and, one would assume, a smaller battery. But how much realistically can these smaller items shave off the price? Even shaving $40 off the overall bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing costs would mean that even at $299 the mini iPad would have the smallest gap between BOM plus manufacturing costs of any iPad. It just doesn’t make sense that Apple would release a mini iPad, a device that could potentially cannibalize sales of the more expensive models, at such a poor margins. A mini iPad might make sense if iPad sales were flagging, but there’s nothing to suggest that Apple is having a problem selling full-sized (and high-margin) iPads.

We already know that, thanks to Apple keeping the new iPad prices steady, it isn’t particularly profitable on its own — Apple’s profits from the iPad come mostly from brute sales numbers. Now, the Mini iPad appears to be even less profitable at the unit level. But as Kingsley-Hughes points out, it could end up cannibalizing sales of the iPhone 5 and New iPad. Of course, Kingsley-Hughes’ computations are based on the rumor that the Mini iPad would essentially be exactly like the iPad 3, only smaller. It remains to be seen if Apple would be willing to make the Mini iPad an el cheap-o model in order to make it more profitable. It is, after all, possible to make much lower-performance tablets than what Apple produces. But what would possibly come with it is a drop in quality and performance that Apple customers may not be comfortable with. As Apple enthusiasts, its much easier to imagine the viability of new products like the Mini iPad based on our own wants and wishes than to be sober enough to ask, “will it make Apple money?” If the answer to this question is “no,” then there is no way that we’ll ever see a Mini iPad. They might have a couple promotypes sitting around in the Cupertino labs, but that’s where they’ll be destined to stay.

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ADD COMMENTS | Tags : mini ipad

mini ipad release suggests iphone 5 release dateA fresh rumor out of Asia outlining a lower price point and third quarter release for the fabled Mini iPad may further point to an iPhone 5 release sooner rather than later.

It’s always exciting to be able to present two exciting Apple rumors in one article here on the iPhone 5 News Blog. We begin with a new Mini iPad rumor out of Asia, which touches on the possible price point and release date window for the long-rumored little sibling to the industry-leading 9.7-inch iPad proper. Kotaku translates the Chinese report as such:

“Chinese net portal, NetEase, has a story on a rumored new mini Apple tablet. NetEase claimed that the device will be released around the third quarter of this year to “counter attack” the upcoming Windows tablets. The report further claims that the devices will cost anywhere from US$249 to $299 and that there will be an initial 6 million units ready for launch.”

9to5Mac, who has popularized the report here in the west, didn’t speak to the veracity of any rumor coming from NetEase, but they do imply a certain inevitability to the eventual appearance of the Mini iPad, stating, “The consensus is that Apple will use these to counter the mid-range tablet market that Amazon and others are now having some success in. The screen at 7.85 inches could hold the original iPad pixel dimensions and allow Apple to cut costs considerably.”

We’ve reported recently that a prototype of the Mini iPad does indeed exist, having been spotted in Cupertino’s labs, and that the design is essentially just a smaller version of the current iPad. It would stand to reason that Apple will reuse as many of the internal components as possible in order to streamline Mini iPad production to coincide with regular iPad production as well, though Cupertino will obviously have to devise a smaller chassis and display.

This is not the first time that we have heard the rumor that the Mini iPad will debut in the latter half of 2012. However, let’s segway into what this may mean for the iPhone 5 release.


It stands to reason that, should the Mini iPad debut in the third quarter of 2012, there is more chance of Apple looking to release the iPhone 5 several months before it, in order to keep their high-profile mobile products well-spaced from one another. If the iPhone 5 were to be announced in June, it will have been launched more than three months after the iPad 3. Similarly, if the Mini iPad is announced in October, it would enjoy a similarly spaced buffer. It’s just my opinion, but this release schedule theory seems more in keeping with what we’ve seen from Apple, rather than releasing two high-profile products close to one another.

And let’s not forget that they may also be looking to fit iTV into the 2012 release schedule as well.

Another thing to consider with the Mini iPad’s release is how it could affect the iPhone 5′s screen size. Steve Jobs is famously known for being skeptical of small-screened tablet computers, for fear that they encroach into an ambiguous no man’s land, somewhere between smartphone and tablet. Samsung has happily ventured into this no man’s land with the Galaxy Note, but Apple may be less apt to offer a big-screened iPhone 5. It will be interesting to see if Apple offers only a modest screen increase for the iPhone 5 in order to keep it dimensionally distant from the Mini iPad.

Regardless, if you’re an optimist, then you have to love the prospect of these rumors about the Mini iPad coming true, since, in my opinion, they most definitely have positive implications for an iPhone 5 release date coming sooner rather later.

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19 COMMENTS | Tags : mini ipad

Mini iPad Update: A 7.85-inch iPad Prototype Does Exist

Posted by Michael Nace under iPad 3 on Thursday Apr 5, 2012

mini ipadAn insider claims that the fabled 7.85-inch “Mini” iPad does indeed exist, and that Cupertino developers have been “noodling around” with it for some time now. But is the Mini iPad something we can expect this year, or is it still just a concept device?

Almost since the launch of the original iPad, users have anticipated that Apple would someday release a “Mini iPad” version as well. rumor and speculation for the fabled “Mini iPad” has only increased over the years, as new competitors in the marketplace, such as the Kindle Fire and Nook, have sought to undercut Apple’s bigger-screened, bigger-priced iPad with smaller, cheaper devices, in hopes of attracting newcomers to the tablet experience. The assumption has been that Apple will eventually have to take on  the sub-9.7-inch tablet market with a smaller, cheaper tablet of their own. but all of this has been pure conjecture until now.

Today, a new report has surfaced suggesting that the rumored 7.85-inch Mini iPad prototype does indeed exist. Mac Rumors reports: “DaringFireball‘s John Gruber offered up some additional confirmation of the existence of a 7.85″ iPad. Gruber reports that he has been told by ‘numerous’ people that this size iPad is something Apple has been ‘noodling with.’” In responding to a question as to whether or not this Mini is slated for release this year — or at any foreseeable point in the future — Gruber goes on to say:

“Well, I don’t know. What I do know is that they have one in the lab…a 7.85 inch iPad that runs at 1024×768… it’s just like the 9.7″ iPad shrunk down a little bit. Apps wouldn’t need to be recompiled or redesigned to work optimally on it. It’s just the iPad smaller.”


Gruber’s claim coincides with a smattering of Mini iPad production rumors that have persisted over the past few months. Mac Rumors points out that “It has been clear to us that a 7.85″ iPad has been in late prototyping stages. Reports have been coming from the Chinese supply chain about such a device for months,” while Apple Insider notes “Speculation on a smaller form factor iPad gained legitimacy in February when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple officials have been showing off designs for a smaller iPad that has a similar screen resolution as the iPad 2.”

The iPhone 5 News Blog has covered the Mini iPad rumors consistently, though the reports over the course of the past year are inconclusive and do little to shed any light on what — or if — we may expect in a production model Mini iPad. you’ll recall that the most recent rumor has suggested that 5-inch displays are currently in production for either a larger-screened iPhone 5 or even “minnier” Mini iPad. That rumor seems unlikely.

However, perhaps a more reasonable rumor is that the Mini iPad could see a release date in the fall or winter, with the iPhone 5 being released in June. This release date schedule would give both the iPhone 5 and the rumored Mini iPad an ample buffer between releases. In addition, a smaller, cheaper Mini iPad released in the fall could end up become a hit-selling Christmas present.

What remains to be seen is the viability of a Mini iPad that is essentially the same as the iPad 3, but with a smaller screen. Given the New iPad’s astounding popularity — even among Kindle and Nook users who has upgraded to the iPad this year — the case has not been made that a 7.85-inch Mini iPad would fulfill a need in the tablet marketplace. But if Apple can manage to make the Mini iPad considerably cheaper than its larger-screened cousin, the Mini iPad’s most attractive selling feature could be not its small screen, but rather its small price tag.

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2 COMMENTS | Tags : mini ipad

The news of Apple’s troubles down under over the New iPad and its 4G claims in an advert has grown even more serious, with the company offering a wide-ranging refund to all Australian customers. Could this snafu turn into a widespread disaster for Cupertino?

Today it has been widely reported that Apple will be offering full refunds to all Australian buyers of the new iPad 3. This wide-ranging recall comes as a result of a rapidly escalating disaster for Apple in Australia, after a consumer watchdog group there took legal steps to force Cupertino to change the way it is marketing its new tablet — namely, its popular 4G LTE connectivity.

The problem is that Australia is not yet equipped with a wide-ranging 4G network, and so the watchdog group is claiming that Apple’s iPad 3 adverts are misleading and constitute false advertising. According to the Mail, “The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken legal action to ensure Apple makes consumers aware its third-generation iPad cannot connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia due to technical incompatibility. Apple promoted its third-generation tablet as the iPad with Wifi+4G, but Australia has only one 4G network, operated by Telstra Corp, which operates on a different frequency to the 4G on Apple’s new iPad.”


In order to stem the tide of rising criticism in Australia, Apple will move to offer anyone refunds who feel as though they were misled by advertisements that highlighted the tablet’s 4G LTE capabilities.

There is also concern that this situation could spread to other countries where 4G networks are still not fully implemented, such as in the UK. Given the significant 4G LTE investments made by Apple’s mobile carrier partners in the U.S., however, it is not believed that any sort of lawsuit or refund would extend to American iPad 3 customers.

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17 COMMENTS | Tags :

new ipad 3 batteryWhen the iPad 3′s battery meter indicates a full charge, it’s usually only charged at 90%, cheating users of over an hour’s worth of usage.

Ever since the launch of the iPhone 4S in the fall of 2011, battery life has taken center stage in Apple discussion. While many pinned hopes to iOS 5.1 that it would deliver a more optimized software solution for managing battery longevity, others fretted over whether or not the iPad 3′s impressive, new Retina display and 4G LTE connectivity would lead to similar battery issues with Apple’s newest-generation tablet.

Today, an article in the Mail is claiming that the iPad 3′s battery underperforms by as much as 10%. They explain that the reason is because “the formula used to calculate when the device is ‘full’ is slightly off – a safety mechanism used by Apple to prevent people overcharging their gadgets.” Because overcharging rechargeable batteries can significantly reduce their capacity, the battery charger stops charging the battery before its reaches a true 100% charge — and the battery indicator indicates a full charge once the charger turns on this failsafe.


Believe it or not, this feature has been used on all of the other most popular Apple devices, including the latest iPhones, iPods, and iPads. Typically, however, the battery charger failsafe on these other devices have stopped charging the battery once it reaches around 97% capacity. With the New iPad, the charger is cutting off at 90%. This, together with the fact that the New iPad’s battery cell is 1.7 times larger than the battery pack on the iPad 2, leads to a significant loss of use time for users, losing up to 1.2 hours of use.

In addition, the larger battery pack on the iPad 3 takes a significantly longer time to charge while in use. According to the Mail article, “users who attempt to charge new iPad while using it could be in for a surprise – it can take up to 20 hours,” thanks to the power consumption of the screen, which is 2.5 times higher than that of the iPad 2.

Fortunately, some of these battery issues might be fixable with software updates down the road. iOS 5.1 was met with mixed reviews on how well it improved the battery life of the iPhone 4S. It is likely that iOS 6 — or even an iOS 5.1.1 or iOS 5.2 patch — could usher in even further software tweaks to improve the longevity of the iPad 3.

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11 COMMENTS | Tags :

New iPad 3 Sells 3 Million In First Week, As Tablets Begin To Eclipse PCs

Posted by Michael Nace under iPad 3 on Tuesday Mar 20, 2012

The iPad 3 has an explosive first weekend in sales, reinforcing Tim Cook’s claim that tablets will outsell traditional computers in three years.

Well folks, the first numbers are in for the New iPad’s first weekend in stores. According to Apple’s own press release, their third-generation tablet sold three million units last weekend, averaging a million sales per day. Not bad, Apple.

This news comes right on the heels of our article from yesterday, which outlined Apple’s major stock explosion, and the anticipation that the iPad 3 had a big first weekend, in addition to an avalanche of pre-orders that saw many of the New iPad models sell out within two days. There’s no doubt that today’s news will send Apple stock into a new wave of gains.

In spite of the fact that the new iPad 3 has been characterized by the tech media as a mere upgrade of the iPad 2, consumers have followed through on what was predicted to be a major success for Apple’s third-generation tablet, falling in love with its new Retina display and 4G LTE connectivity. It has also helped that Apple managed to keep the iPad 3′s price tag the same as the previous two models, even though early surveys showed that prospective iPad 3 customers would have been willing to spend more.

It appears that 2012 is the year where many people feel ready to own an iPad; all of the “late adopters” are finally getting on board (maybe you’re one of them?).


This theory would seem in line with comments that Apple CEO Tim Cook recently made to the media, wherein he stated that the tablet is now clearly in its mainstream adoption phase, and will come to replace personal computers in the very near future. According to FoxNews, “’Gartner estimates that the tablet market will be 325 million units by 2015,’ Cook noted.” The article goes on to report: “According to Ross Rubin, executive director and principal analyst for market research firm NPD Connected Intelligence, that switch over could happen as early as this year.”

Gartner and other tech think tanks are also quick to point out that PC sales will also continue to grow — just not nearly at the same pace as tablets. However, PCs’ last bastion is the business sector; it appears that tablets will be slow to take over for business users, who still see desktops and laptops as the most productive computing devices for the business world.

Apple is seeking to make the iPad more business compatible, however. The iPad 3′s hardware and software upgrades are seeking to make it a viable tool for shooting and editing video, as well as creating graphics. There have also been rumors that Microsoft Office will eventually be adapted for the iPad as well.

In the meantime, however, consumers are flocking to the iPad 3, and it appears that it will usher in a whole new generation of users who appear ready to make it their primary computing device.

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7 COMMENTS | Tags : New iPad

New iPad 3 Sales Are On Fire, Apple Stock Soars

Posted by Michael Nace under iPad 3 on Sunday Mar 18, 2012

Regardless of whether the New iPad 3 is a refresh or true “overhaul,” it is living up to sales expectations, driving Apple stock to new highs.

As is typical with all new Apple devices, the iPad 3 launched with lofty sales expectations, with analysts and surveys indicating that the new model would woo a plurality of Kindle Fire and other non-Apple tablet users, and enjoy massive sales as a result of it including 4G LTE connectivity. Both speculations appear to be coming true: the first 48 hours of iPad 3 sales saw the 4G models sell out first, and now all indications are that the New iPad’s first weekend in the stores is turning out to be a huge one.

On Friday, when the iPad 3 launched in stores, the scene was chaotic in most of Apple’s urban retail outlets. WSJ describes it thusly: “The scene at many Apple stores resembled a rock concert, with large crowds, barricades and Apple employees cheering customers as they bought the iPad. Those waiting included a mix of Apple devotees, first-time buyers and foreigners who couldn’t wait for the product to arrive in their countries. In New York, a line of more than 250 people stretched through an underground passage of Grand Central Terminal as they waited for the new Apple store there to open.”

The performance of Apple’s stock was equally energetic, with CNBC reporting that “The buzz helped propel Apple shares to touch a record high of $600 on the Nasdaq on Thursday, though they later erased gains and were trading at around $585 on Friday afternoon.”


At present, there are no hard sales numbers to report on how iPad 3 sales have gone this weekend. However, don’t be surprised to hear of reports later in the week that there is a New iPad shortage in the works: USA Today reports that “Consumers nationwide are forecast to grab 112.5 million tablet computers by 2016, according to researcher Forrester,” and it would appear that Apple will be siphoning the lion’s share of those tablet sales, beginning with the New iPad 3.

Of course, there are many in the media who are beginning to pan the iPad 3 as a mere refresh of the iPad 2, citing recent teardowns that reveal the component suppliers have not changed from the iPad 2, and that the overall design of the New iPad is little more than an iPad 2 with improved components. In spite of this, however, consumers are sold on Tim Cook’s marketing pitch — early polls indicate that the Retina display and 4G LTE connectivity are the two major driving forces in the iPad 3′s robust early sales.

To be sure, there are still plenty of rumored features and next-generation patents floating around that, once implemented on a future iPad, will most certainly constitute an overhaul. In the meantime, Apple continues to dominate the tablet market with the same essential design of the original iPad, simply because none of its competitors have offered a device that even comes close to delivering the quality, features, and performance of the iPad at its current price point. And apple seems to be content with dominating the market from two ends — quality and price — as the teardowns also reveal that the New iPad 3 does cost more to manufacture than the iPad 2, meaning that Cupertino is eating the cost of the more expensive components.

But as long as the sales continue to flow, Wall Street and Apple will be happy.

 By

11 COMMENTS | Tags : iPad 3, New iPad

Apple’s opting to go with a pretty much carry-over A5X dual-core CPU in the third-generation iPad hasn’t done a whole lot to clarify what processor chip will likely power the iPhone 5 later this year. In fact it’s somewhat muddied the waters.

It’s now been revealed that the “X” in A5 X refers pretty much to the new iPad’s quad-core graphics processor, and not to any speed tweaking of the main processor itself, which remains much the same dual-core Cortex A9-based chip that powers the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

The Vietnamese blogsite tinhte.vn has managed to obtain a third-generation iPad prior to the official release, and installed GeekBench software to benchmark its performance, which scores it at 756, which is about the median, or a bit lower, than scores for the iPad 2′s A5 CPU posted on this site:
http://bit.ly/Awc33r

It has been suggested that the A5X may turn out to be an iPad-only special chip engineered especially to support the new iPad’s big Retina display. The new iPad is equipped with 1GB of RAM, double the the iPad 2′s and iPhone 4S’s memory capacity, and quadruple that of the original iPad, but the A5X the CPU is still clocked at 1GHz. Whatever size panel Apple uses in the next generation iPhone, it’s not going to need the graphics processing muscle of the A5X. Michael Nace addressed that point at greater length here on Monday,


So the operative question becomes whether Apple will opt to continue using an A5 dual-core CPU in the iPhone 5, or choose to introduce a quad-core A6 CPU to the world in an iPhone rather than an iPad. That is of course provided that an A6 is ready for release in time for the new iPhone rollout. Arguably, the tradeoff between maintaining a fashionably thin and light form factor and ensuring satisfactory battery life is more critically acute with smartphones than it is with tablet computers, and there will also presumably be the complicating factor of LTE/4G support, which will almost certainly have to be incorporated in the iPhone 5 now that it’s available in the iPad as well as much of the Android competition. LTE will of course mean more power demand, which would make a quad-core CPU logical from that perspective, but would have to be reconciled with acceptable battery capacity and the dictates of fashion.

However, it’s been speculated that new battery technology applied to the new iPad is substantially more efficient in terms of bulk and weight vs capacity, and if that’s an accurate surmise, then it will be used in the new iPhone as well. I think that given the A5X’s decent, albeit not stellar performance in the new iPad while supporting LTE communications, Apple could probably get away with carrying over the A5 chip to the next generation iPhone if the RAM is boosted to the iPad’s 1 GB, although the possible addition of NFC to the mix along with Siri — which is not yet a factor with the iPad would also have to be taken into consideration.

Looking farther into the future, ARM, on whose technology Apple’s A-series CPUs are based, has unveiled a new Cortex-M0+ Processor which it says is the most energy efficient ARM processor available, further reducing energy consumption and increasing performance. ARM claims that the exceptionally small silicon area, low power and minimal code footprint of these processors will enable developers to achieve 32-bit performance at an 8-bit price point, bypassing the step to 16-bit devices. According to ARM, the chip’s optimized architecture with a core pipeline of just two stages enables the Cortex-M0+ processor to achieve power consumption of just 11.2uW/MHz (90LP process, minimal configuration), while raising the performance to 1.77 CoreMark/MHz.

Also looking more and more like a sure thing is a 7.85-inch iPad mini, confirmation of which appears to have been blabbed by an anonymous Samsung Electronics official interviewed by The Korea Times’ Kim Yoo-chul this week.

Commenting on Samsung’s continued robust business relationship with Apple notwithstanding the patent litigation battles they’ve been engaged in, the official is quoted affirming that “The contract [to supply Apple with components] is expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year, as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung’s faster solid state drive (SSD) storage.”

Samsung makes the A5 and A5X CPUs and Samsung’s QXGA panels used in iPhones and iPads, and Apple bought $7.8 billion worth of components from Samsung in 2011, including displays, mobile application processors (APs), NAND flash chips and mobile DRAMs – making it Samsung’s single biggest customer as well as its patent litigation nemesis, the official noting that while “The amount of the current contract is around $9.7 billion,” but suggesting that the amount may go up to $11 billion, depending on demand for Apple products, and is expected to continue increasing until at least 2014 under the terms of the current contract between the two companies, observing that Apple products’ popularity lines Samsung’s pockets as well.

By Charles Moore

6 COMMENTS | Tags : A5X, A6, quad core