The next-generation iPad could pack a quad-core chip, according to the Apple rumor site that correctly predicted that the company's current A5 mobile processor would be a dual-core part.
So what are the clues? Buried within Apple's iOS 5.1 beta code are references to core management capabilities for quad-core processors, according to a report published Friday by 9to5Mac.com. The references to quad-core support appear in "a hidden panel that describes cores that are supported by iOS device hardware" that's "[h]idden deep inside" the iOS 5.1 beta, the website reported, citing "[e]xtremely reliable and knowledgeable people familiar with iOS's inner workings."
The gist of the discovery is that Apple signifies supported processor cores with a numerical designation that's listed in its mobile operating systems' processing-core management software. A single-core chip is designated "/cores/core.0," for example. The presence of an option for "/cores/core.3" indicates that the next version of iOS will support quad-core processing because "/cores/core.1" refers to dual-core chips and "/cores/core.2" refers to triple-core chips (the latter reference isn't present in iOS 5.1 code and it's unlikely Apple would build a triple-core chip for its iPhones and iPads).
9to5Mac.com extrapolates from this that Apple's next-generation ARM-based chip, the A6, will be a quad-core processor. If previous patterns hold, that chip will first appear in the iPad 3, Apple's next-generation tablet which is expected to debut in the first half of 2012, possibly as soon as next month. It might then turn up in the successor to the iPhone 4S, generally believed to be a smartphone Apple will call the iPhone 5, though it seems just as possible that the company will stick to dual-core chips for its handsets for a while.
A quad-core mobile chip from Apple would certainly have company in the market. Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) was released last November and drives the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, among other Android-based tablets. Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon S4 series of SoCs is expected to include a quad-core part, while Samsung is rumored to be including a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 chip and a quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 chip in next-gen Exynos releases set for this year.