Next iPad Could Have A Quad-Core A6 Processor

Apple commercials usually tout what the iPad and iPhone can do rather than the innards running them. That doesn’t mean Apple isn’t actively working on making your next iOS device super-duper, quad-core fast.

The folks at 9to5 Mac found evidence of an A6 quad-core processor in the processing-core management software of the iOS 5.1 beta. The next-generation processor is signified by this code snippet, “/cores/core.3.” If the number “3” is throwing you off, here’s how the progression of processors in iOS devices works according to an expert that spoke to 9to5 Mac.

  • core.0 = Single-core A4 processor
  • core.1 = Dual-core A5 processor
  • core.3 = Quad-core A6 processor

So a “core.2” would be a triple-core processor, which doesn’t make any sense. Of course Apple could just be future-proofing their software and the next-generation iPad and iPhone could still be powered by dual-core chips. But what’s the fun in talking about that? [9to5 Mac via SlashGear]


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