Apple A12 Bionic: this is the first 7 nm processor manufactured by TSMC

Apple has just presented its new iPhone, where after the initial stir that usually awakens the Cupertino in these events, you can shed little by little the innovations that the brand implements in its latest smarthphones. Undoubtedly one of those new features is the new heart of these smartphones, we are of course referring to the new SOC that Apple has named A12 Bionic and that has the privilege of being the first processor manufactured in 7 nm by the Taiwanese TSMC (with the permission of the Kirin 980 that will not be sent until October).

Phil Schiller categorized it directly as “the most intelligent and powerful chip ever created on a smartphone” phrase that could well be a headline in itself. And it may not be lacking in reason as it consists of 6 cores, two high performance and four high efficiency, where the former are responsible for complex tasks while the remaining four deal with common tasks.

According to Apple, the two performance cores are up to 15% faster than their previous version, while the remaining 4 manage to reduce consumption by up to 50% compared to the A11 Bionic, which emphasizes and channels this chip towards reduction of consumption over total yield.

To this we must add a better neuronal engine that has been updated, an essential part of this Bionic, since thanks to it it is capable of performing more complex AI tasks;

The Bionic A12 chip with next-generation Neural Engine has incredible performance. He is able to use automatic learning in real time to enjoy photos, games and augmented reality in a totally new way.

This engine has 8 cores (compared to 2 of the A11 Bionic) and can make a total of 5 billion operations per second.

Being a chip designed entirely by the apple, the graphic section has also suffered a new twist. The improvements go through a fourth unit of computation or core while Apple has achieved memory compression without loss.

No performance data is specified in this section, but if you have commented that you will have an improved image signal processor;

The image signal processor has a depth motor that records an impressive level of detail in Portrait mode. And with the Intelligent HDR, you’ll see an even wider dynamic range in your photos.

In addition, Apple has confirmed support for Metal 2, which is a significant advance for both users and developers. Metal 2 provides near-direct access to the graphics processing unit (GPU), allowing you to maximize the graphics and computing potential of the applications.

Based on a low-level architecture with precompiled shaders, highly accurate resource control and multi-threaded support, Metal 2 evolves to give the GPU more control over its graphics channel, accelerate neural network training and provide powerful new tools that provide information about your shader code.