I read your article "How many ARM cores does it take to make an iPhone?" and thought I might be able to help a bit. I cover ARM as an equity analyst for an investment bank in London.

From my checks it is highly likely that the iPhone uses the following components: applications processor, Samsung, running either an ARM10 or an ARM11; WiFi, Marvell, chip based on an ARM9 or an ARM7 but I think it is an ARM9; Bluetooth, CSR, does not run on ARM; GPRS/EDGE baseband, Infineon, runs on an ARM926.

In total this would be three ARM cores. I hope this helps.

Kind regards

Didier Scemama
Analyst
ABN AMRO
London

P.S. The Broadcom touchscreen controller chip is not based on an Alphamosaic processor core but was designed from scratch by Broadcom.

Thanks to Didier for his processor core assessment. I note that the CSR Bluetooth, likely runs on the XAP processor which would make a Cambridge processor count of four versus a California processor count of one — for the Broadcom processor. However, Broadcom also had a Cambridge processor design team last time I checked, so it could be five-zip to Cambridge.

If anyone has a different ARM/Cambridge/California processor core count based on any chips Didier or I may not have included, or information on where the Broadcom touchscreen controller was designed, he or she is welcome to get in touch.

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