News
Updated iPhone SDK reveals possible 3G iPhone chip
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
News Category: iPhone
A string of code found in the latest version of the iPhone SDK, released yesterday, points to a new baseband chipset that may be included in the next-generation, 3G-capable iPhone. The code was discovered by Zibri, the developer behind the ZiPhone jailbeaking/unlocking tool, and contains a “SGOLD3” string, which presumably points to Infineon’s S-GOLD3H chip (Infineon’s S-GOLD2 chip is used in the current iPhone). The chip supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA, cameras up to five megapixels, includes an MPEG4/H.264 hardware accelerator, and more. Last week, AT&T Mobililty CEO Ralph de la Vega hinted that the 3G iPhone would be released in the coming months; it was previously said the device would arrive in stores sometime in 2008. [via Engadget]
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1
The Infineon S-GOLD3H does *not* contain an H.264 accelerator, it contains an H.263 accelerator (though they’re just one number apart, they’re rather different video codecs). H.264 processing is probably handled somewhere else in the iPhone, especially since the iPod touch probably doesn’t have one of these, and it can handle the same video as the iPhone.
However, it may lead to a bit of energy savings (or something) if they decide to put the H.263 unit to use, because a lot of flash video (youtube, etc.) is H.263.
Posted by evilspoons on April 14, 2008 at 10:37 PM (PDT)
2
Clarification: yes, this chip can handle H.264, but it is through software in the ARM core. My above comment still applies.
Posted by evilspoons on April 14, 2008 at 10:39 PM (PDT)
3
The spec sheet for the processor does (page 1) list an MPEG-4/H.263 hardware accelerator, as well as (page 2) “video telephony, streaming, recording and playback with up to 30 frames per second and a resolution of up to 320 x 480 pixels (HVGA) in MPEG4, H.264 or Real video formats and advanced audio codecs, like enhanced AAC+.” It’s entirely possible that the hardware accelerator offers the most benefit to less taxing H.263 processes but has some benefit for more demanding H.264 as well. It’s also possible that it’s all in software, but it would be sort of amazing for a relatively slow 312MHz processor like this one to be able to handle 30fps HVGA H.264 recording without some form of hardware assistance.
Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on April 15, 2008 at 5:47 AM (PDT)