The iPod’s A5X vs. the iPhone 5′s A6: Does it matter for games? - Venturebeat

Apple's new A6 processor is hitting the iPhone 5, but the older A5X is going into the new iPod Touch. Which processor is better for gaming?

[Tolkoto]

I'm excited to upgrade :)

[idontgetit]

Really informative!

[FlairSomewhere]

I thought it went... A4 (iPad &iPhone 4)
then A5 (iPad 2 & iPhone 4S)
then A5X (the new iPad)
then A6 (iPhone 5)

So which A5 is the new iPod touch actually getting?

[jamezrp]

The new iPod Touch has the A5X, just a dual-core version of the PowerVR GPU (instead of the iPad's quad-core GPU).

[FlairSomewhere]

Okay so it's not the iPad 3's A5X persay...
But is a dual core iteration of it?
Apple made this needlessly confusing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[jamezrp]

Yeah Flair, they never really reveal the specs up front. They did say it's the A5x, and a dual-core gpu (as shown in the image in the article), but that's all they said. It's likely it'll be underclocked like the previous iPhone and iPod Touch CPUs, but considering the significantly lower resolution, power should be pretty close to identical.

[deantak]

Widescreen = time to reformat graphics

[jamezrp]

Actually all apps will work natively on the larger screen with no changes, though they'll just have black bars on the sides. But if developers want to do it right, yeah, they'll need to make a 4th (5th if still supporting the 3GS) screen resolution. (That's iPad 1/2, iPad, iPhone 4/4S, 5, and potentially 3GS.)

[Hicken]

How will this affect the controls? That's what REALLY matters for games.

[jamezrp]

That's actually a really good question, though it's more about size of the device versus performance. A widescreen phone is easier to have virtual controls for. Huh...I'll have to ponder on that.

[DivineAssault]

agreed.. I dont care how great the graphics get for phones.. Unless theres real buttons, online play (with chatting), & AAA titles, the graphics are useless..

[jamezrp]

There are peripherals that take care of that, but I hear you. Then again, there are so many games on iOS that are cheap, and plenty of them are really good, even without physical controls. Meanwhile, except for LBP, I don't play anything on the Vita.