Why iPhone X may not be the highlight of Apple's press conference?

What is the real highlight of this Apple conference that has already concluded?

If we turn our attention to the new A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8/Plus and iPhone X, we may be able to feel the dazzling brilliance of this conference again.

Low-key Apple, high-powered A11 Bionic

At the launch event, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president in charge of introducing the new iPhone, spent less than three minutes introducing the A11 Bionic. His summary of the A11 Bionic was:

This is the most powerful and smartest chip ever put in a smartphone.

The A11 Bionic has a 6-core 64-bit CPU, including 2 high-frequency cores and 4 low-frequency cores, with a total of 4.3 billion transistors. In comparison, the A10 Fusion CPU running on the iPhone 7/Plus has 4 cores, including two high-frequency cores and two low-frequency cores, with a total of 3.3 billion transistors.

In other words, the A11 Bionic's CPU has taken a step further in terms of integration.

In terms of speed, the high-frequency core of A11 Bionic is 25% faster than that of A10 Fusion, and the low-frequency core is 70% faster than that of A10 Fusion. Thanks to the use of Apple's self-developed second-generation performance controller, the six cores of A11 Bionic can run simultaneously, and its performance in multi-threaded tasks is 70% faster than that of A10 Fusion as a whole.

In addition to the CPU, the A11 Bionic also uses Apple's first self-designed GPU, which uses a 3-core design and is 30% faster than the custom GPU used in the A10 Fusion, with twice the energy efficiency.

Phil Schiller also pointed out at the press conference that this GPU is specially designed for 3D games and Metal 2 (the next-generation image rendering technology framework launched by Apple at this year's WWDC), and can be used in conjunction with machine learning technology and the Core ML (Core Machine Learning) framework launched by Apple with iOS 11. In addition, the A11 Bionic also supports a dual-core neural network processing engine (Neural Engine).

In addition to the GPU and CPU, the A11 Bionic also includes a new generation of ISP (image signal processor) designed by Apple, which supports faster autofocus in low-light environments and has an upgraded pixel processor. In addition, the A11 Bionic also adds multi-band noise reduction function at the hardware level for the first time.

There is no doubt that A11 Bionic embodies Apple's many efforts and latest developments in chip technology.

Crush your opponents and surpass your teammates

Although Apple's processor single-core performance has been far ahead of Android processors since A9, we still need to compare them through real running data. Here, Leifeng.com uses the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 commonly used by Android flagships as the comparison object.

According to the new generation of iPhone benchmark data appearing in the GeekBench benchmark database, there are three models, namely iPhone 10,2, iPhone 10,3 and iPhone 10,5, all equipped with iOS 11 system. These three devices happen to correspond to the three new iPhone models released by Apple; and all three are equipped with A11 Bionic chips.

From the data shown in the picture, the single-core running score of A11 Bionic on several devices exceeded 4000 points, and the multi-core running score was around 10000, with the lowest score being 8218. Also in the GeekBench running score, the single-core running score of Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 was over 2000 points, and the multi-core running score was over 6000 points.

According to data released by AnTuTu, another benchmarking software, the A11 Bionic's running score has exceeded 200,000 points; while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835's running score is just over 180,000 points.

It can be seen that, at least in terms of running points, A11 Bionic can be said to beat Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.

In addition to the Snapdragon 835, the A11 Bionic also has a rival in the same camp, which is the A10X Fusion chip running on the latest iPad Pro. Judging from the naming rules, the A10X Fusion can be regarded as an upgraded version of the A10 Fusion. Its CPU also has 6 cores, divided into three high-frequency and three low-frequency.

Another set of comparison data from GeekBench shows that among the 12 sets of benchmark results, the A11 Bionic chip has an average single-core performance score of 4169 and an average multi-core performance score of 9836. In comparison, the A10X Fusion chip in the iPad Pro has a single-core score of 3887 and a multi-core score of 9210. In other words, in terms of CPU processing power alone, the A11 Bionic has surpassed the A10X Fusion.

Based on the above comparison, Leifeng.com believes that A11 Bionic can be said to be the most powerful mobile processing chip currently available.

From Fusion to Bionic, Apple's internal strength and strategy

At the iPhone 7/Plus launch event a year ago, Apple not only made digital iterations of its A series chips (from A9 to A10), but also added a word Fusion (which can be translated into Chinese as fusion or nuclear fusion) to the naming form, which seems to have a directional meaning.

Therefore, the A series chip was named A10 Fusion last year. A10 Fusion not only used a quad-core CPU for the first time (previous generations were dual-core), but also had very strong single-core and multi-core performance; the word suffix Fusion seemed to fit the performance of the processor. Later, the A10X Fusion equipped with the new generation of iPad Pro also continued this naming rule.

This year, the suffix of the new generation of chips has become Bionic, which means bionics. If we analyze the features of A11 Bionic and the new generation of iPhones, it is not difficult to associate that the meaning of Bionic is actually the support of the new generation of Apple chips for artificial intelligence related technologies, especially in making full use of human facial biometrics.

Judging from the specific content of the press conference, the Face ID function can be unlocked by facial features, which requires data from the sensor on the top of the iPhone X; but this data is not directly three-dimensional, but requires a lot of calculations by the A11 Bionic to process; Animoji can create animated expressions in real time by tracking people's facial expressions, which not only requires the use of the A11 Bionic's Neural Engine, but also puts higher requirements on the processing speed of the A11 Bionic.

In fact, the A11 Bionic's neural network processing engine can process up to 600 billion neural network computing requests per second, providing performance support for the recognition and use of facial features; the iPhone X uses facial feature recognition technology to create vivid lighting effects (Portrait Lighting) in portrait mode, which also uses this technology.

In the later stage, the neural engine will also demonstrate its advantages in neural networks and deep learning, providing support for Apple's development in the field of artificial intelligence.

In addition, during the iPhone 8 launch event, Apple also took time to showcase an AR game called The Machines. During the entire demonstration, the game ran very smoothly, thanks to the A11 Bionic's powerful CPU and GPU designed specifically for 3D games and Metal2. In fact, in AR games, only one of the dual cameras on the back of the iPhone is working, and the realization of AR scenes is precisely because A11 Bionic uses the data from a single camera to calculate, model, and render real AR effects.

The emergence of A11 Bionic means that Apple has begun to explore new development opportunities in the AR field. It also shows that when the performance of mobile phone processors reaches a certain level, quantitative changes can lead to qualitative changes and open up a new technology application scenario; this is also a powerful refutation of the view that "performance is useless".

In summary, if the iPhone X shows that Apple has not yet reached perfection in polishing the appearance of future products, then the A11 Bionic indicates that Apple has been cultivating its inner strength under the imperfect appearance. The iPhone X is not perfect, but the A11 Bionic is impeccable; and behind the profound foundation, there are many possibilities for Apple's future development.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.