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Apple A11

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Apple A11 Bionic
General information
LaunchedSeptember 12, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-09-12)
DiscontinuedApril 15, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-04-15)
Designed byApple Inc.
Common manufacturer
Product codeAPL1W72[2]
Max. CPU clock rateto 2.38 [3] GHz
Cache
L1 cache64 KB instruction, 64 KB data[4]
L2 cache8 MB
Architecture and classification
ApplicationMobile
Technology node10 nm (10FF)[1]
Microarchitecture"Monsoon" and "Mistral"
Instruction setA64 – ARMv8.2-A
Physical specifications
Transistors
  • 4.3 billion
Cores
GPUApple-designed 3 core[6]
History
PredecessorsApple A10 Fusion (iPhone)
Apple A10X Fusion (iPad)
SuccessorApple A12 Bionic

The Apple A11 Bionic is a 64-bit ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series,[6] and manufactured by TSMC.[1] It first appeared in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and iPhone X which were introduced on September 12, 2017.[6] Apple states that the two high-performance cores are 25% faster than the Apple A10's and the four high-efficiency cores are up to 70% faster than the two corresponding cores in the A10.[6][7] The A11 Bionic chip was discontinued on April 15, 2020, following the discontinuation of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The latest software update for the iPhone 8 & 8 Plus and iPhone X using this chip was iOS 16.7.10, released on September 3, 2024.[8]

Design

[edit]

The A11 features an Apple-designed 64-bit ARMv8-A six-core CPU, with two high-performance cores at 2.39 GHz, called Monsoon, and four energy-efficient cores, called Mistral.[1][6][5] The Monsoon cores are a 7-wide decode out-of-order superscalar design, while the Mistral cores are a 3-wide decode out-of-order superscalar design. The Mistral cores are based on Apple's Swift cores from the Apple A6.[9][failed verification] The A11 uses a new second-generation performance controller, which permits the A11 to use all six cores simultaneously,[10] unlike its predecessor the A10.

The A11 also integrates an Apple-designed three-core graphics processing unit (GPU) with 30% faster graphics performance than the A10.[6] Embedded in the A11 is the M11 motion coprocessor.[11] The A11 includes a new image processor which supports computational photography functions such as lighting estimation, wide color capture, and advanced pixel processing.[6]

The A11 is manufactured by TSMC using a 10 nm FinFET process[1] and contains 4.3 billion transistors[7] on a die 87.66 mm2 in size, 30% smaller than the A10.[12] It is manufactured in a package on package (PoP) together with 2 GB of LPDDR4X memory in the iPhone 8[2] and 3 GB of LPDDR4X memory in the iPhone 8 Plus[12] and iPhone X.[13][14]

The A11 has video codec encoding support for HEVC and H.264. It has decoding support for HEVC, H.264, MPEG‑4 Part 2, and Motion JPEG.[15]

Die Block Comparison (mm2)[9]
SoC A11 (10 nm)
Total Die 87.66
Big Core 2.68
Small Core 0.53
CPU Complex (incl. cores) 14.48
GPU Core 4.43
GPU Total 15.28
NPU 1.83

Neural Engine

[edit]

The A11 also includes dedicated neural network hardware that Apple calls a "Neural Engine". This neural network hardware can perform up to 600 billion operations per second and is used for Face ID, Animoji and other machine learning tasks.[10] The neural engine allows Apple to implement neural network and machine learning in a more energy-efficient manner than using either the main CPU or the GPU.[16][17] However, third-party apps cannot use the Neural Engine, leading to similar neural network performance to older iPhones.[9]

Bloomberg says that the neural engine is the fruit of Apple's efforts to improve its AI team, since the 2015 report by Bloomberg that Apple's secretive nature made it difficult to attract AI research scientists.[17] Apple has since recruited people and multiple companies working on AI, and has published papers related to AI research.[17] In October 2016, Apple hired Russ Salakhutdinov as its director of AI research.[18]

Products that include the Apple A11 Bionic

[edit]

The Apple A11 Bionic chip is used in the following iPhone models and not on any generation of iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV.

[edit]
Apple A11 SoC on iPhone 8 main logic board

See also

[edit]
  • Apple silicon, the range of ARM-based processors designed by Apple

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Cutress, Ian (September 12, 2017). "Apple 2017: The iPhone X (Ten) Announced". AnandTech. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "iPhone 8 Teardown". iFixit. September 21, 2017. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  3. ^ "iPhone X Benchmarks - Geekbench Browser". Geekbench. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  4. ^ "Measured and Estimated Cache Sizes". AnandTech. October 5, 2018. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Clover, Julie (September 10, 2017). "iOS 11 GM Leak Reveals Details on Face ID, Apple Pay, Wireless Charging, and A11 Chip in iPhone X". MacRumors. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: A new generation of iPhone" (Press release). Apple. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "iPhone 8: A11 Bionic". Apple. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  8. ^ "About the security content of iOS 16.7.10 and iPadOS 16.7.10". Apple Support. March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Frumusanu, Andrei (October 5, 2018). "The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets". AnandTech. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  10. ^ a b "The future is here: iPhone X" (Press release). Apple. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  11. ^ "iPhone 8 - Technical Specifications". Apple. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Yang, Daniel; Wegner, Stacy; Fontaine, Ray (October 11, 2017). "Apple iPhone 8 Plus Teardown". TechInsights. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  13. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (September 26, 2017). "iPhone X confirmed to have 3GB of RAM and 2,716mAh battery". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  14. ^ "iPhone X Teardown". iFixit. November 3, 2017. Archived from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  15. ^ "iPhone 8 - Technical Specifications". support.apple.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  16. ^ Hruska, Joel (September 14, 2017). "What to Expect From Apple's Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic SoC". ExtremeTech. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c Gurman, Mark (May 26, 2017). "Apple Is Working on a Dedicated Chip to Power AI on Devices". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  18. ^ Leswing, Kif (October 17, 2016). "Apple's latest hire could signal a big shift in the company's approach to AI". Business Insider. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
Preceded by Apple A11 Bionic
2017 		Succeeded by
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