What is the Difference Between Apple A4 and NVIDIA Tegra 2?

The Apple A4 and NVIDIA Tegra 2 are both System-on-Chips (SoCs) designed for handheld devices, but they have some key differences in terms of performance, cache, and instruction sets. Here is a comparison between the two:

Apple A4:

• Release Date: March 2010
• First Device: iPad
• Other Devices: iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4G
• ISA: ARM v7 (32bit)
• CPU: ARM Cortex A8 (Single Core)
• CPU's Clock Speed: 1.0 GHz
• GPU: PowerVR SGX535
• GPU's Clock Speed: Not Revealed
• Cache: 512kB L2 cache

NVIDIA Tegra 2:

• Release Date: Q1 2010
• First Device: LG Optimus 2X (first mobile deployment)
• Other Devices: Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Photon 4G, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Motorola Electrify, Lenevo ThinkPad Tablet, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
• ISA: ARM v7 (32bit)
• CPU: ARM Cortex-A9 (Dual Core)
• CPU's Clock Speed: 1.0 GHz – 1.2 GHz
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce (8 cores)
• GPU's Clock Speed: Not Revealed
• Cache: 1MB L2 cache

In terms of performance, NVIDIA Tegra 2 generally outperforms Apple A4 due to its dual-core CPU and larger L2 cache. However, Apple A4 supports the NEON instruction set, while Tegra 2 does not.

Comparative Table: Apple A4 vs NVIDIA Tegra 2

Here is a table comparing the Apple A4 and NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoCs:

Both SoCs are targeted towards handheld devices and have been used in various popular devices. The Apple A4 features a single-core ARM Cortex A8 and a PowerVR SGX535 GPU, while the NVIDIA Tegra 2 features a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 and an NVIDIA GeForce GPU with 8 cores. The Tegra 2 has a larger L2 cache compared to the A4 (512 kB in A4 vs. 1 MB in Tegra 2). In terms of performance, NVIDIA Tegra 2 generally outperforms Apple A4 in most major aspects.