Apple iPhone HD to Use Custom Processor

It's been hinted at before, and it's one of the least surprising things to be rumored so far, but it's still just a rumor right now, and it's about the iPhone HD. Sure enough, the rumors aren't going to slow down before that mysterious date in June, so you should probably buckle up. This time around, we've got word that Samsung has been ousted as the primary designer for the next generation iPhone's processor, with the Cupertino-based company focused on implementing their own designs. Which should sound familiar, as the A4 processor inside the iPad comes from these same origins.

The rumor breaks ground from an anonymous executive speaking to the Korea Times. According to the contact, Samsung's designs will no longer be the focus of the new chips, as they have been in the iPhone 3GS and other previous models. Instead, Apple will focus on the design, while Samsung will continue to manufacture them. It's not necessarily a bold move, but one that's been expected. With Apple probably pushing for HD in their next version of the iPhone, the A4 is a dead-ringer. It already has the ability to playback 720p video, so implementing it into the new iPhone may not be all that difficult at all.

So, Apple's keeping it in-house (relatively speaking). Considering the success of the iPad, and the power that many people are still talking about under the hood, there's honestly no shock here that Apple would want to follow the same path with their iPhone. There are rumors that the company would have to underclock the processor, though, and we're wondering how accurate those are. For that matter, would Apple even want to do that, as it would more than likely degrade the user experience, which Apple focuses on intently. The A4's chipset is a modified version of the system-on-a-chip design based on the ARM Cortex-A8 which is found in the iPhone 3GS, but the iPad features a more powerful PowerVR SGX graphics core. We're anticipating at least parts of this rumor to be substantiated in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

[via The Korea Times]