Tech News

iPhone 4G Processor Revealed

Today’s photos from Vietnam of a leaked iPhone 4G prototype contain legible part numbers revealing new iPhone’s processor: the Apple A4.

The silkscreen on the production A4 reads:

  • APL0398 339S0084 YNL215X0
  • K4X2G643GE N26CGM0T

The leaked prototype has these markings:

  • APL0398 339S0084 YNE07423
  • K4X2G643GE GSA1400A

The two numbers that are different are likely manufacturing numbers (each lot of chips is stamped with a unique number to track them through the supply chain). The important numbers are:

  • APL0398 339S0084 <– Apple A4
  • K4X2G643GE <– 256 MB Samsung DRAM (two dies)

Our engineers are not surprised by this finding. We were very impressed by the extraordinarily low power consumption of the iPad, and remarked at the time that its power consumption and board design was much more in line with handheld devices than laptop computers.

In conjunction with Chipworks, we have already reported heavily on the design of the A4. Our Apple A4 teardown goes into detail on how the A4 is constructed.

X-ray of the A4 processor chip

Chipworks has more information here:

  • Apple A4 Manufactured by Samsung’s 45nm Process
  • A4 Layout Analysis