iPhone 3G S processor specs: 600MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 10th 2009 at 1:03PM

Apple's being pretty cagey with the hard specs of the iPhone 3G S, but apparently T-Mobile Netherlands didn't get the message -- it's just posted up a specs page listing 256MB of RAM and a 600MHz CPU. That's up from 128MB and 412MHz in the first-gen and the 3G, and it's basically exactly what was rumored. Of course, the 3G S also has that new PowerVR SGX graphics chip that supports OpenGL ES 2.0, so the total speed boost is probably more than just pure clock speed, but we'll find out for sure when we get our hands on one.

[Via iLounge]

Filed under: Handsets, T-Mobile, Apple

Tags: 3g s, 3gS, apple, iphone, iphone 3g s, Iphone3gS, specifications, t mobile, t-mobile, TMobile

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

LisaGee @ Jun 10th 2009 1:29PM

we already knew all these... didn't watch the WWDC? LOL too bad there is no FM/AM radio... I would like to listen to Rush Live every evening on my iPhone.

Neutral

mphayvanh @ Jun 10th 2009 7:40PM

lol Classic sheepish Apple user!

Neutral

Rassah @ Jun 10th 2009 2:29PM

Only 600Mhz??? WTH Apple? Yay for using circa 2004 Dell PDA processors :(

Neutral

richard knights @ Jun 11th 2009 1:53AM

what planet are you on? For a phone 600 MHz is really fast. The HTCs are still only around 500 Mhz. I'm no Apple fan but this looks like extremely good specs to me.

Neutral

Rassah @ Jun 10th 2009 3:13PM

HTC kinda dropped the ball, too. Dell came out with an Axim X50 back in 2004, which had 624MHz and some video acceleration back in 2004. HTC dropped "standard" back to 512Mhz. Newest PDAs are coming out with 1Ghz. iPhone CPU is only as fast as what was available 5 years ago, and will be "slow" in a few month...

Neutral

TimH @ Jun 10th 2009 3:46PM

Using that logic, a new Core i7 is exactly the same speed as a Pentium 4. For years, a lot of people have realized that, especially in mobile devices, where battery life is the real key, extra speed isn't necessarily a good thing. Doing more with the clocks you have is. So yes, the new iPhone probably runs at a frequency the original iPhone could -- but does so sucking less juice than the original iPhone would at 600MHz, and probably gets much better clock-for-clock performance.

Neutral

LTJ @ Jun 18th 2009 2:00PM

Keep in mind that with the iPhone (and all portable electronics) the power load/heat/battery life issues are of utmost importance. And, all truly compact devices rely on tiny fans or passive cooling, and must do without most desktop PC cooling techniques like huge, noisy fans, massive heat sinks, lots of heat-diffusing open space above microchips, etc. If you build a laptop PC with nothing but the latest hot-rod, mega-clocked components, you will end up with a hot-to-the-touch monster with about 40 minutes of battery life on a good day.
Why do you think so many laptops come with 4200 rpm hard drives? Most manufacturers of higher-end laptops would love to move up to 5400, 7200, 10,000 rpm disk drives, but they tend to guzzle battery juice like there's no tomorrow.

Neutral

zach @ Jun 10th 2009 3:05PM

I'm definitely getting this phone. People don't think it was much improvement but it actually was.

Neutral

Adam @ Jun 10th 2009 2:43PM

Doesn't the original iPhone have a CPU of similar speed that was underclocked to 412MHz? Engdaget reported that the CPu speed was likely 667Mhz.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/01/iphone-processor-found-620mhz-arm/

What a load of crap, if it's true.

Neutral

NuShrike @ Jun 11th 2009 11:51AM

Planet Pentium4 apparently.
o since the iPhone doesn't do BG programs, almost all cpu is dedicated to current app
o we know how slow and hot Qualcomm chipsets are which uses more cpu to make up for the underutilized gpu (and a OS not designed for GPU, unlike Apple's)
o iPhone actually uses its FPU for most of the math going on further reducing CPU demands, unlike WM which can't even begin to support one
o iPhone's GPS should be more efficient and runs cooler than Qualcomm's GPSone

Summary, of course you'll need a faster P4 (Qualcomm) in this case than a Core 2 Duo (Samsung/Apple).

Highly Ranked

Roberto @ Jun 11th 2009 12:17PM

Its not just a diference in MHZ, its a DIFFERENT PROCESOR.

the iphone and iphone 3g had an ARM11, underclocked to 412mhz, for battery life.

the 3gs has a Cortex A8, built on a 65nm proces (vs 90 of the old one), double L1 cache, 256kb l2 cache (vs none in the old one), its "wider" (2 issue vs 1 before), and has a longuer pipeline (13 stages now, 9 before i think, this last thing es "bad", but necesary), and 600mhz vs 412.

its a totaly upgraded CPU, much more powerfull, not just a bump in frequency.

Neutral

celz @ Jun 11th 2009 6:48PM

bottom line is apple raped you.. you will only notice the extra performance when playing 3d games made specifically for the 3gs.. without multitasking all of the web portal type apps are much to basic to even utilize that..

Neutral

NuShrike @ Jun 12th 2009 1:47AM

A mainstream Cortex phone on a mainstream 3G network with a OS platform that takes full advantage of it? Are you f***king serious??? Not even Nokia, Palm, nor Qualcomm has accomplished this yet! This is big as the jump to Core 2 Duo, or i7 architecture.

This pretty much obsoletes any Snapdragon device as well as WM7 and the Acer phones that just came out since there's no unified equivalent!!

Neutral

Mobo @ Jun 16th 2009 11:54AM

I am so glad Apple(a computer company) keeps improving a good thing(iPhone)...
It makes all the actual Mobile makers improve their lame boring Mobiles...

But I guess it goes to show you a lot of people prefer a lame boring mobile...

Neutral

LTJ @ Jun 18th 2009 2:40PM

Roberto is absolutely correct when it comes to different CPU architectures. There is so much more to performance than CPU clock-rate. It's been demonstrated many times that an Intel Core2 Duo at 2.0GHz will blow away a Pentium IV at 3.0GHz across nearly all workload scenarios. Also, there's the Sun SPARC T2 at clock-rates as low as 1.0GHz is one of the most powerful processors in the world for handling highly multi-threaded workloads like massive databases. In most such applications, floating-point units (FPU's) are a non-issue because nearly all the data is char string-based or integer math (i.e. NOT floating-point).
Floating-point has its place to be sure - but it's mostly in scientific applications and research.
Obsessing on clock rates is a little like being in awe of an 8-cyl car engine running at 8000 rpm - until you realize you're still in 1st gear and you just got passed like you were standing still by a 4-cyl car at 3000 rpm, but in 4th gear!