The "New" Apple TV's Chip
Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech breaks it down:
With no change to process technology, I can only assume that the reduction in power consumption came from other architectural or silicon optimizations. The significant power reduction is the only thing that makes me wonder if this new A5 silicon isn’t destined for another device, perhaps one powered by a battery. That’s pure speculation however, it could very well be that the A5 in the Apple TV is just lower power for the sake of being better designed.
Overall, it seems like this new custom A5 was made for an economical reason, but those power savings are pretty massive. If only Apple was working on small, battery-powered new iOS device…
