We’ve heard before that Apple intends to update their A4 chip for the next-generation of iOS devices to a so-called A5 dual-core SoC , which would not only allow the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 to run more intensive apps even faster than they currently do, but would quadruple the A4’s graphics and video capability.
Now Digitimes is jumping aboard that rumor, claiming that “the chance is high” that Apple’s next-gen SoC will adopt a dual-core processor in time for the iPhone 5.
Digitimes isn’t really basing their claim on anything in particular, embedding the prediction in a report talking about the trend of dual-core processors across the mobile industry as a whole. Still, it makes sense: NVIDIA’s own Tegra 2 SoC has been out for a year and already runs on dual cores, and their next-gen Tegra 3 — to be released later this year — managed to get quad cores into roughly the same power footprint.
By the time the iPhone 5 comes along, the 1GHz A4 that Apple’s currently using will seem dusty and quaint. Let’s hope, though, that the A5 comes along in time for the iPad 2: it continues to seem a bit ridiculous that Apple’s largest iOS device is, in many non-trivial ways, the most underspecced of the line.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
