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Apple’s iPhone 5S renders 1080P video at twice the rate of the iPhone 5, Geekbenches close to 2010 Mac Mini

Almost the exact 2x Apple promised and great for people doing big videos. Also notable from Macsfuture:

The iPhone 5s’ Geekbench score of 2552 is close to the score of the “Early 2010” version of the Mac Mini.

So it seems that Apple’s processors are about 3-4 years behind Intel’s currently. If Apple’s Ax processors keeps doubling speed every year and Intel struggles to keep up with Moore’s law, it doesn’t take a Computer Science major to see what’s going to happen in a few years.

 

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Comments

  1. Boyan Kolev - 11 years ago

    I’d like to see an entry-level Mac with a bit faster Apple-designed chip(A7X) for about $600.
    They can bring up the Macbook’s again and another version of Mac mini will do for the people who doesn’t like mobile’s.
    I’m sure this kind of computers will find place in almost every domestic environment. From multimedia for playing DVD’s(yes I am that kind of person) to writing your homework, to editing your blog or managing your small business.

    • Jeff Kibuule - 11 years ago

      Except an entry-level 2013 Mac Mini would run circles around an A7X, not to mention the fact that an ARM chip emulating an x86 instruction set would suffer a performance penalty for apps that hadn’t been recompiled.

      • You are thinking Windows thinking.
        You don’t have to emulate anything with ARM on Unix. Just use fat binaries like when Apple had both PPC and Intel. All that is needed is Xcode with support + recompile the programs.

        Add to that that ARM is REAL 64bit not extensions like X86.
        To many windows clickers believe that 64bit is all about memory. They don’t understand that its a windows problem where 64bit code is 3% slower then 32bit code.

        On real OSes with real 64bit you see huge performance gains just because its 64bit and you can crunch more numbers at the same time.

        X86 uses 64bit extensions
        ARM/PPC/SPARC/Power and so on uses FULL 64bit instructions. And that whats so amazing about A7. It have both 32bit and 64bit instructions in it. Its “two” processors. Not one with extensions.

        BTW. Real computers had 64bit in 1990. I used pure 64bit in 1997 with UltraSparc and Solaris7 that was pure 64bit.

        The 32/64bit + different architecture problems are Windows specific.

      • Jim Phong - 11 years ago

        @John Malone: “Add to that that ARM is REAL 64bit not extensions like X86”–If you think that 64bit on Intel and AMD CPUs is not a realy 64bit you clearly don’t know what you are talking about.

    • Jim Phong - 11 years ago

      To be able to match current Intel Ivy Bridge Core CPUs Apple would need a cluster of A7X .. it’s not worth the trouble. Maybe 16 to 32 A7X might match an Ivy Bridge Core i5.

      • Boyan Kolev - 11 years ago

        Helloooo, I’m not talking about powerhouses- I’m just saying that is a possibility to make a “RT” version of OSX and sell a bunch of them for the avarage consumer. I’d prefer to buy this kind of Mac for everyday use. Yes, the MBA is good enough, but do the avarage consumer really need this? Optimized apps will do great work.
        Just think about it.
        Also, there are more than a few controllers that can make your iDevice the perfect tool for gaming.
        I think that this would be considered in the near future.
        The good thing about it is that Apple won’t need to brake their “trust” with Intel. These kind of products will be sold separately from the normal computers/notebooks.

  2. Laughing_Boy48 - 11 years ago

    And yet all the iHaters say the 5s isn’t worth the upgrade. It seems it would be if you want to play games and watch 1080p videos. If not, then maybe it doesn’t make sense to upgrade. I really don’t understand why the whole smartphone industry is exhibiting so much hate for the iPhones. I know they’re not ultra-cutting edge products, but do average smartphone users really need them to be? I’m mainly looking for better battery life and snappy UI. I don’t really require much more than that from any smartphone.

    • Jeff Kibuule - 11 years ago

      Not watching videos, rendering them in iMovie. Not the same.

    • shareef777 - 11 years ago

      Watching videos =! Rendering videos.

      I have yet to meet anyone that actually renders their videos on the iPhone.

      • PMZanetti - 11 years ago

        I will now.

      • Jeffrey Patrick - 11 years ago

        You can doesn’t mean you will

        Since you can do simple edit on your iPhone, you will want to “render” them before sharing it?

  3. Paul Kerr - 11 years ago

    @Boyan is right. Put the iPhone 5S’s A7 and graphics chips in the Apple TV, add an Apps category, and you have the device that everyone hoped the Mac mini would become.

    Apple will need to do this to keep a foothold in the living room. It will need to enable games at least to avoid being pushed out by the XB1 and PS4. It will take much higher sales rate for the Apple TV to become attractive to Comcast, et al, as a potential cable box. Games are the only way to drive that kind of volume.

    • PMZanetti - 11 years ago

      What Apps? Apple adds Apps as they iron out licensing for content. TV is sticky space. Its not like mobile devices where Apple invented mobile device content distribution via iTunes and eventually the App Store.

      But again the question remains, what Apps? Content for viewing, check. If its a network, station, studio, or otherwise, there is massive licensing negotiation headaches that go into each one. Its not as simple as opening up and SDK and saying ‘have at it’. Studios would say, “Lose a 30% cut to Apple? No. Cable still more lucrative.

      There is a big difference from having an NBC app for iOS, and one for Apple TV. In the studio’s mind, iOS App and cable subscription can coexist and they can maximize revenue from content. Add the app to AppleTV, and the pie gets smaller. And, they start turning over 30% of revenue to Apple on their TV delivery. Not something most studios are prepared to do. And even so, As I’m sure you’re aware some of those types of Apps went through lots of negotiation as well, just to get on iOS devices.

      Besides Content apps…what other apps? Facebook? No. Instagram? No. Angry Birds? Maybe. But why? And how?

      Are you going to use your iPad/iPhone as the touch surface while looking at the TV screen (Gameplay akin to that on the Mac w/ trackpad)? That’s lame, even on the Mac today, it is lame. Lame by comparison to gameplay on iOS.

      I just don’t see the point of an App store. I see the point in Apple building quality Apps with cooperation from developers for each deal they sign. Keeps the AppleTV from getting out of control and saturated with lame-experience Apps.

  4. rahatkhanbangladesh - 11 years ago

    I know some people will call me a fanboy for saying this, but Apple has actually broken Moore’s Law. According to Moore’s Law computing power should double every 24-18months, Apple’s doing it every 12. It’s a fact.

  5. Jim Phong - 11 years ago

    Don’t compare apples to oranges… I’d say…
    The A7 is an excellent CPU+GPU SoC .. BUT.. the whole ARM 64bit architecture it’s a lot slower than Intel Core. Not just 3-4 years.
    Most of the video encoding is probably done on the PowerVR GPU at a lower precision. Just like the video encoding on Nvidia, AMD or Intel GPUs.

  6. Tao jones (@Taojones_1) - 11 years ago

    dear laughing boy it is painfully clear why everyone not involved with apple hates the i-phone part is having to split up the meager 25% of profit left by apple in the market between a dozen players . part is defensive human nature , you don’t want to admit you picked a loosing piece of hardware so like the fox and the grapes if you can’t reach them they must be sour anyway. It is an axiom of arguments that participants will defend points of view that may be clearly counterfactual during the process of the argument (when was the last time you saw 2 people arguing where one genuinely says “ok you win” on the same day of the fight? I have started to wonder why people who hate macs so much find the time from their otherwise super productive android days to troll mac sites and flame them. (“why Kate, doth thou protest too much?”) my 20 something son reports android users are thrilled with the phone at first until they have a month or two use under their belts then mac envy creeps in as the phones fail to deliver in clutch situations .

  7. PMZanetti - 11 years ago

    I ran the Geekbench test on Friday when a friend asked me too, and my jaw dropped when I got 2550. I asked him what the 5 benched and he said 1670.

  8. Simon Howes (@simonhowes) - 11 years ago

    Mobile ARM chips are about 6-8 years behind x86 in terms of speed. iPhone 5 isn’t far off a Pentium III, I’m guessing the new A7 will be near to a P4 at 3GHz. There was a time in the 1990’s when ARM was faster than 486 and Pentium processors when Acorn Computers was around. When comparing GPU performance, iPhone 5S is about 1/4 that of a PS3, which went on sale 7 years ago. That’s if we go with the iPhone 5 being 25 GFlops (5S double that) and PS3 218 GFlops. PS4 is 1.84 TFlops just to put the iPhone in to perspective.

  9. That’s really freaking awesome! So glad I got the 5S coming. Waiting for gold.

    [Hey, how about setting a cookie so we don’t have to log in each time??]

  10. pkadam - 11 years ago

    Some will say the A7 is 3 years behind others said 6 – 7 years Intel, one thing is sure they are catching up fast because mobile is the future.

    Being the future Intel is now investing in activities other than making chips, they know their days are numbered.

    In the old days there are only 2 computers making commercialized chip Intel and AMD but now Apple have joined in the fun and pushing the envelope so in a few years time we will know who is ahead and who is really behind and I don’t think it is Apple because they have a vested interest to be ahead.

    As I said many times many can’t see the forest for the trees and time to get real.

    • Simon Howes (@simonhowes) - 11 years ago

      They are not catching up with x86. x86 will double in speed every 18 months or so, and so will ARM.

      Not sure why the article says “Intel struggles to keep up with Moore’s law”, the writer has no idea what Moore’s law is. Intel are at the forefront of lithography. Apple are the ones that may suffer, after they have started going with alternative fabrications plants such as TSMC that cannot scale down as fast as Intel or Samsung.

  11. Michael Crumpton - 11 years ago

    Apple could make an hdmi dongle like the chromecast that had the equivalent of a 2010 mac mini inside. Add BT keyboard and trackpad and you have the cheapest mac ever.