Third generation of Apple’s smartphone iPhone looks quite the same as the previous models on a distance, but even if there are notable difference in the regular specifications there more has happened under the hood than might perceive the eye. There is a reason why Apple has branded the new model S, “speed”, and it’s because it hasn’t just swapped the CPU but also the GPU with the latest version of iPhone.
Over at Anandtech they have taken a closer look at the processor and graphics circuit architecture that hides inside of iPhone 3G S. With a substantially more modern architecture and higher clock frequencies it is anything but weird that Apple brags about performance, but thew fact is that Palm us using basically the same platform with its Palm Pre phone.
Picture by Anandtech
Beside the considerably more efficient and faster processor it is perhaps the graphics circuits of iPhone 3G S that is the most interesting. With tile-based rendering technology, like the one some might remember from the graphics cards called Kyro, there is pretty decent potential for making 3D games for iPhone.
“The iPhone 3GS may be a mild upgrade from a consumer perspective, but what it’s going to enable is far from it; watch out Nintendo. Remember the performance gains we saw in the early days of 3D graphics on the PC? We’re about to go through all of that once more in the mobile space. Awesome.” – Anand Lal Shimpi
In that way Apple’s iPhone 3G S is a pretty big upgrade, but the question is if software and game developers will take advantage of the opportunity given to them, not just with Apple’s phone but also all other competing phones using the same or similar hardware, like Palm Pre.
:: The iPhone 3GS Hardware Exposed & Analyzed
