Cupertino, California-based Apple today unveiled a handful of intriguing new job postings, and one which sticks out in particular is that which seeks an “SoC Modelling Architect / Lead” – somebody to help take the company’s mobile processor, or system-on-chip, to the next dimension.
The post specifically requires “at the center of a chip design effort interfacing with all disciplines, with a critical impact on getting functional products to millions of customers quickly,” and considering a similar posting was also made back in May, it would appear Apple has yet to find the right person for the task, or needs somebody new to take the helm of the company’s chip design team.
Although Samsung manufactures Apple’s iDevice processors, the company designs them itself, and with the A6 having just released (at twice the speed of its predecessor, the Apple A5), it looks as though the company is now ramping up its drive on creating the next processor, perhaps the Apple A7.
The fourth-gen iPad, which will release early next year, will likely pack in the Apple A6 or a variation of that particular SoC – as the third-gen iPad did with the A5X chip in March – but thereafter, it doesn’t look as though Apple has much of a plan, hence the job posting.
Although most of your typical mobile device’s internal components are integral to keeping everything ticking over, the processor is one of the key implementations, and the higher grade of chip your device is packing, the more power and higher level of performance you’ll be able to yield – at least on paper.
Apple only recently took the reigns of its SoC design, and the clear advantage of this is that software and hardware can be built around each other, in perfect harmony. Many Android smartphones run software and hardware that has been somewhat clubbed together as opposed to kneaded in perfect harmony, and as anybody else who has used an HTC One X could vouch – the powerful processor is of little use if it’s not adapted properly to the software running on it.
As well as the possibility of an Apple A7, some have – in hope perhaps, rather than expectation – suggested Apple could begin creating its own processor for Macs, replacing those currently made by Intel.
(via TechCrunch)
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