Mole says Apple A5 chip runs too hot for iPhone
We say: no, it's just too darn big to fit
Will September's iPhone refresh be a true iPhone 5, a souped-up iPhone 4 branded as iPhone 5, or said revamp released as the iPhone 4S?
The debate rages still, but Chinese-language site Sohu reckons it'll be the latter - because Apple hasn't yet figured out how to get the iPad 2's A5 processor into the iPhone case and keep it cool.
The site's unnamed mole - they're not hard to find in Shenzen - alleges the A5 overheats when placed in an iPhone 4 shell, and so Apple has put the major upgrade on temporary hold until it fixes the problem. It'll pump out rebranded iPhone 4 tweaks in the meantime.
We're sceptical. The A5 is used in the iPad 2, and judging from take-apart pictures from iFixit.com, it's not like the chip has acres of space to pour heat into there but manages to run without overheating.
But, of course, the CPU is inevitably more space-constrained in the iPhone 4, and the A5, as 9to5Mac notes, is rather bigger than the A4 chip used in the iPhone 4. This is especially a factor if, as has been claimed, the next iPhone will be thinner and lighter than the current one. That would appear to rule out the A5
Apple may simply be waiting for a smaller dual-core chip to use in the iPhone - all eyes are on the A6.
Rumours have been flying that the next iPhone - or, more likely, the next iPhone-but-one - will feature a new case design, and that gives Apple ample scope to tweak the internals to facilitate heat dissipation. ®
COMMENTS
exactly...
IPhone 4 over 24 months ~£1700 my HTC Mozart win pho 7 same 24 months ~£750
I don't care if it makes coffee and womens clothes fall off in its presence I'm not paying £45 a month for a bloody phone.
Microsoft patent tax.
As apposed to the Apple fanboi taxes.
Ridiculously high profit margins on hardware.
30% of everything you spend in the app store/iTunes.
Upgrade tax as not having the latest model means excommunication from the cult.
As apposed to the Apple fanboi taxes?????
Link to O2 for
HTC Salsa, 900 minutes, 500MB data, £41, initial purchase £0
Galaxy S II 900 minutes, 500MB data, £43, initial purchase £50
iPhone 4 16GB, 900 minutes, 500MB data, £48, initial purchase £100
Link to O2 for each
http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/pay_monthly/init/Apple/iPhone%204%2016GB%20Black
http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/pay_monthly/init/Samsung/Galaxy%20S%20II
http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/HTC/Salsa
(My own bill, last year's prices, 900 mins, 750Meg, £40, initial purchase £87 iPhone 4 16gig)
I used to use an iPaq handheld thingy. It worked ok but it was hardly "mass market".
Somewhere along the line came the iPhone. It made smart phones accessible to everyone (provided they wanted to pay).
It is natural for competitors to build to a price cap. The competitor smartphones are on the whole cheaper than the feature compatible iPhones. This does not mean that they are better or worse, merely DIFFERENT.
Subjectively, the iPhone has never felt cheap. Some Android handsets do, others don't.
Hardware wise the iPhone is good enough for the price. Android handset manufacturers provide as good for less or better for the same price.
An aside
/rant on
I have one problem with Google, IT IS GOOGLE. The biggest data mining operation on the planet. The sole reason for the existence of Android is to provide a data collection platform. It might be free to use but I'm paying for it. Google charges Advertisers/Manufacturers for the adverts and the collected anonymised data who in turn charge Customers.
Google is a seductive company, they appear to give their jewels away for free, they claim to do no evil. They ONLY want to make money. (At least Microsoft and Apple are honest about that)
Adblock and Noscript are my friends. All the Google scripts are blocked on my PC. Scroogle is my search engine of choice (http://scroogle.org/)
/rant off
It's not too hot
You're holding it too long in your sweaty, overheated palms.
Not just heat
All this heat means more juice, and that means less battery life. Smartphones already have little battery life when you do anything smart with them; less battery life will not be welcomed.
