Powering the iPad at a frequency of 1GHz, the Apple A4 processor continues to evoke spirited discussions even a month after its launch. For those who have been paying attention for quite sometime as Apple sprinted through the decades, a number of questions bother them.

First, one wonders if the PA Semi acquisition by Apple that 2008 saw could be the mother to the new processor. Somehow the time factor doesn’t seem to be in their favour. At the same heartbeat, another question is in our minds: What exactly is Apple thinking? What is Apple’s long-term plan for playing in the hardware market, and does the company really expect to pit its boutique, Apple-specific designs against the wider commodity market and win? How much influence do Apple’s in-house hardware teams exert over the designs, and precisely, where is that influence manifested?

A bit of research and some tickling of the thought process leads us to a few answers. The first one does away with the recent rumour that bloomed somewhere in Macdom. Now we have come to know that the A4 and the Samsung chip geared to be used in the Galaxy S Smartphone (S5PC110) are, in fact, different; even though the two chips have the same core and look like identical twins. The Cortex A8 cores on both should also serve to assure us that PA Semi had nothing to do with this.

Further dissection reveals that the A4 core is an Intrinsity-designed Hummingbird. Considering that Hummingbird’s claim to fame was getting the A8 up to 1GHz on 45nm, we have enough evidence to believe Intrinsity is more involved with iPad than Apple is ready to divulge.

Another clue was given by Steve Jobs himself in his January keynote address. As he was quoted as saying, “We have an incredible group that does custom silicon at Apple.” He goes on to say that the A4 is, “our most advanced chip we’ve ever done.”

Seemingly, the A4 is an attempt by Apple to declare, without words, as a hardware design shop with plans for the ARM space; not something so revolutionary.