Marvell Technology Inc (MRVL)

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Apple iPhone: ARMed And Dangerous; PXA320 detail
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6014

Apple's iPhone will contain no less than three ARM chips

Earlier this year during MacWorld 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the world to Apple's iPhone. The phone, which is available in 4GB and 8GB varieties, set many hearts ablaze with its sleek, touch screen interface and music/widescreen movie playback capabilities.


Today, we have word that the Apple iPhone contains no less than three ARM processors under its touch screen display. Warren East, president and CEO of ARM Holding, wouldn't comment on exactly how many and what type would be used, but noted that "ARM is in 90 percent of the world's [mobile phone] handsets; we're in WiFi, baseband processors and applications processors and most of the world's MP3 players. So it's at least three."
Word on the street, however, is that the iPhone's main processor will be the Marvell PXA320 which was developed by Intel as a part of the XScale processor family. Marvell purchased Intel's XScale division for $600 million USD in June of 2006.

The Marvell PXA320 is available in speeds up to 806MHz (256KB L2 cache); however, there have been samples of the chips demonstrated at 1.2GHz. The processor features Intel SpeedStep and MusicMax technology for comprehensive power management. Also supported is a Wireless MMX 2 2D accelerator with a 768KB frame buffer and support for up to 5MP digital cameras.

The iPhone has enjoyed a lot of press over the past few weeks. The device also sent Cisco into a fiery rage over the use of the name iPhone. Cisco wasted no time in filing a suit against Apple claiming that it already had rights to the iPhone trademark and that it was already shipping products using the iPhone trademark.

The rhetoric on both sides has died down a bit in recent weeks and the two companies "have agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to the lawsuit to allow for discussions with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability."

In addition, we've learned all about Verizon's decision to pass on the iPhone, that Rogers Wireless would be the sole carrier for the iPhone in Canada and that LG's KE850 PRADA will be deemed a clone by many even though it was displayed first.