AppleInsider received the information from a pretty reliable source: the same one that tipped it to the "secret 2008 licensing deal" between Apple, Imagination Technologies and Samsung. That deal led to the SGX535, which has been used since the iPhone 3GS.
For the next generation of iDevices, Apple will move to a new SGX543 graphics and video core. That graphics core will give the devices about twice the processing power at the same clock speed. At the same time, the SGX543 will support OpenCL, which is used to offload general purpose computing tasks to a GPU. The new video processing strategy will include multiple cores, as well.
A source familiar with Apple's graphics strategy says the company will not only be upgrading its video core, but also going to multiple cores, a feature that is designed into the SGX543 design. The most likely configuration of Apple's next custom chip is reportedly the SGX543MP2, which pairs two SGX543 cores to work as one, offering around four times the capability of the previous A4 in graphics and video tasks.All this power could also lead to the iPad and iPhone finally supporting HDMI, the report added.
The SGX543 core is designed to parallel as many as 16 cores together, in a way that is transparent to higher level software, meaning that apps don't have to be rewritten specifically to benefit from the new speed boost. Imagination supplies intelligent core management that automatically determines the number of cores available and accelerates the graphic tasks by distributing them across the available cores.
We've already heard that the multi-core strategy will extend to a new CPU, as well. Apple will reportedly be using A multiple core ARM Cortex-A9, which will be dubbed the Apple A5.
