Apple is working on a plan to improve the performance of its artificial intelligence on iPhones. To achieve this, the company plans to use faster RAM to enhance its Apple Intelligence capabilities. Interestingly, Apple will collaborate with one of its biggest competitors: Samsung.
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According to a report by The Elec, Apple aims to leverage a major breakthrough in RAM technology from the South Korean company. Samsung is developing a new packaging method to increase DRAM memory bandwidth. Sources indicate that Apple requested this change, seeking to transition from an integrated LPDDR circuit to a discrete package.
Apple hopes that Apple Intelligence will benefit from the additional bandwidth this adjustment provides. The current packaging method (PoP) has design limitations, as the bandwidth depends on the number of pins on the chip. To overcome this, Apple plans to package the LPDDR memory separately from the SoC.
This change would not only boost the speed of Apple Intelligence but also offer other hardware advantages. Separating the LPDDR from the chip would improve heat dissipation, as the memory would have more space. However, using a discrete package also presents challenges, such as increasing the distance between the memory and the chip, potentially reducing battery size, and adding complexity to the design.
Apple Wants to Lead the Way for Apple Intelligence, and Samsung Is Key
While Apple and Samsung compete in several areas, Samsung remains the most important memory supplier in the industry. The partnership between the two companies began in 2010, when Apple first integrated Samsung’s LPDDR memory into the iPhone 4. According to The Elec, the request for the packaging change came directly from Apple.
Details about Samsung’s upcoming memory solutions are not yet known. The South Korean company has ample time to test and develop the best solution for the iPhone. At the same time, Apple will need to adjust the design of its next chip, the A19, to accommodate the changes brought by this new packaging.
The latest rumors suggest that the iPhone 17’s chip will offer a 15% performance boost and up to a 30% reduction in power consumption compared to the A18. A key feature of this SoC will be improvements to the Neural Engine, which will be vital for enhancing the performance of Apple Intelligence.