What processor or processors do the iPhone models use?

What processor or processors do the iPhone models use?

Originally, Apple provided no information regarding the processor and other internal components of the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, or the iPhone 3GS simply stating that the iPhone is a "closed platform."

For the iPhone 4, Apple originally mentioned that the device was powered by its own A4 processor of an unspecified clockspeed, and still does in some marketing materials, but the company later apparently scrubbed the processor information altogether from official technical specs.

For the iPhone 4S, Apple mentions that it is a "dual core" A5 processor of unspecified speed in the press release, but not elsewhere in technical information. For the iPhone 5, the company press release heralds a "blazing fast A6 chip," but little more.

For the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s, Apple's dual press releases reveal "blazing fast performance of the A6 chip" and an all new 64-bit "A7 chip" as well as a new "M7 motion coprocessor," for the two devices respectively, but no other details are provided.

For the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple's press release boasts that the devices have an "Apple-designed A8 chip with second generation 64-bit desktop-class architecture for blazing fast performance and power efficiency".

Finally, for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple's press release promises that these models have "Apple’s third-generation 64-bit" A9 processor that is "70 percent faster" than the A8 processor before it.

Third-Party Processor Sleuthing

However, for each iPhone model, the curious have used hardware disassembly, software probing, and technical analysis to determine the processor, or more precise information about each processor, that each device uses.

When the original iPhone shipped on June 29, 2007 iFixit disassembled it and learned that the primary processor is an Apple branded Samsung ARM 11 processor running at 412 MHz. Although there was some later speculation that the primary processor might have been provided by Marvell instead of Samsung, Marvell made the chip for 802.11b/g wireless networking, but not the primary processor.

For the iPhone 3G, iFixit and TechOnline collaborated to not only disassemble the device and confirm that like the original it also is powered by an Apple branded Samsung ARM 11 processor running at 412 MHz, but to go a step further and identify and label an exhaustive number of chips used in the iPhone.

Third-party teardowns from iFixit and RapidRepair -- as well as an analysis fromAnandTech -- revealed that the iPhone 3GS has a significantly faster 600 MHz Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor and a PowerVR SGX graphics processor.

For the iPhone 4 models, disassembly did not provide any precise details regarding the clockspeed of the Apple-branded "A4" processor and initial software probing with the Geekbench benchmark only spit out an unhelpful and obviously untrue "0.00 Hz."

However, based on in-depth analysis from both ArsTechnica and AnandTech, two highly reliable sources, and speed tests, it was determined that the iPhone 4 is powered by a 1 GHz A4 processor (S5L8930) of variable clockspeed that typically runs around 750 MHz to 800 MHz. The always excellent Geekbench benchmarking tool also was updated to report a particular processor's variable clockspeed at the time of testing.

The Geekbench benchmark pinpoints that the iPhone 4S uses the "Apple A5" processor like the iPad 2 models, but more specifically it uses a 1 GHz dual-core Apple A5 (S5L8940) processor of variable clockspeed, commonly "downclocked" to 800 MHz to conserve battery life.

For the iPhone 5 models, AnandTech determined that it has a custom dual core processor and a three core graphics processor, most likely a 266 MHz PowerVR SGX 543MP3. Early Geekbench software analysis indicated that it had a 1 GHz processor, but a subsequent version of the software more accurately determinedthat it has a variable speed processor that commonly runs around 1 GHz with a top speed of 1.3 GHz. The Geekbench benchmark confirmed that the iPhone 5c uses the exact same processor as the iPhone 5.

For the iPhone 5s, AnandTech was first to determine that the Apple A7 processor is a ARMv8 derivative of Apple's "Swift" dual core architecture called "Cyclone" and it runs at 1.3 GHz. It also is 28 nm, has a 64k/64k level 1 (instruction/data) cache and a 1 MB level 2 cache.

For the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, in a detailed hands-on technical analysis,Chipworks determined that the "Apple-designed" A8 formally is a 20 nm APL1011 processor manufactured by TSMC. It has dual cores and runs around 1.4 GHz.

Finally, for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, third-party analysis from Chipworksdetermined that there actually are two different "A9" processors used in these models. Some have a 14 nm Samsung-produced APL0898 processor and others have a 16 nm TSMC-produced APL1022 processor with slight variation in heat and battery life. Both have dual cores and run around 1.8 GHz.

Ultimately, most users probably don't need to know or even care to know about processor details for the iPhone models, but for those who do, this variety of methods to evaluate clockspeeds and internal components is interesting nevertheless.