How Apple made the A13 CPU more efficient and powerful


Om Malik interviews Apple's Phil Schiller and Anand Shimpi on the A13 process or in the new iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. There are a number of interesting tidbits on how Apple over the years have worked to differentiate its products using their own chip designs.

One advantage Apple has is controlling the vertical product and learning how to optimize hardware and software based on its users needs.


For instance, the CPU team will study how applications are being used on iOS and then use the data to optimize future CPU designs. That way, when the next version of the device comes out, it will be better at doing the things that most people do on their iPhones.

"For applications that don't need the additional performance, you can run at the performance of last year's and just do it at a much lower power," Shimpi says.

This strategy isn’t just for CPUs. The same performance-per-watt rules apply to machine learning functions and graphics processing. For example, if a developer working on the iPhone's camera software sees a lot of utilization of the GPU, then she can work with a GPU architect to figure out a better way of doing things. This leads to a more efficient design for future graphics chips.