New reports are coming out with somewhat expected news; the next iPhone is said to be sporting a new quad-core processor, most likely based on Samsung’s Exynos 4 architecture. This report is coming from the sometimes-reliable DigiTimes, citing it’s usual “industry sources.” Details including clock speed or graphics power were not released. Last year’s iPhone, as many of you know, features a custom dual-core processor named the “A5,” which clocks in at 800Mhz per-core. This chip was first introduced in the iPad 2 earlier last year, but it was running at 1Ghz thanks to the bigger battery.

Earlier this year, Apple didn’t release a new chip, instead just upping the graphics power and naming the “new” processor the “A5X,” because it was more of a step and not a jump. The A5X was also based on the same type of architecture as the A5, excluding the updated graphics. The CPU remained at dual-core while the GPU went quad-core in order to help sustain the 3.1 million pixels on the iPad’s Retina display.

If Apple does indeed use a new quad-core processor, it is expected that the name of it will be “A6,” following along nicely with previous renditions. DigiTimes is reporting that Apple’s use of quad-core in their phone will “heat-up” competition to use quad-core as well. Samsung, HTC, LG, and Meizu have all already released their own quad-core phones, the most notable being Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Qualcomm is a supposed supplier for the ramp up in quad-core smartphones.

What do you think? Excited for the possibilities of a faster iPhone? Does core number matter in iDevices? Is there something else you’d rather have in the next iPhone? Let us know in the comments.

Via: DigiTimes