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untog

The title isn't quite right. From the article:

Either Apple is only utilizing one core or they are binning parts

So, there are possibly two cores, but it's not confirmed.

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"Only utilizing one core" would mean that the software only uses one, but the hardware has two.

"Binning parts" means they're either actually hardware-disabling ("diking out") the extra core, or the extra core was bad to begin with (making use of otherwise bad chips).

If those images are real, both cores are definitely on the chip, but whether one is hardware-disabled or not is not certain.

Given how many A5s they produce and the low cost of the Apple TV, my money's on the latter.

Would make more sense to software disable it? Then when new hardware comes out the older hardware can be upgraded to support a new OS and utilise the second core rather than being left behind.

iOS is already a pre-emptive, multi-processing OS. It would have no problem using a second core.

Wouldn't it make more sense to enable it from the get go if it is really available and not locked out for yield purposes?

Yeah.

The simplest and most plausible explanation here is that they're using the Apple TV's relatively low performance demands as a way to get some use out of A5s with defective cores

Not if you're planning to advertise the next version of your product as "now it has a dual-core processor"

As mentioned if they have switched all their 4S production over to this chip they may be able to support their Apple TV line primarily with dies that have a borked processor (otherwise those get thrown out). In that case only upgrading a portion of the people who bought Apple TVs with a software update might be counterproductive.

Agree.

It does seem like the images are real, because apparently the site is in the business of selling very high-res versions of such chips:

http://www.chipworks.com/en/technical-competitive-analysis/r...

"Die photos are available in the Chipworks Report Store at top metal and lower metal/poly"

Chipworks are in the business of all manner of reverse-engineering silicon. It's a pretty interesting process.

Sadly, it's one of the few semiconductor segments in which Ottawa, where I live, is still something of a leader.

And, weirdly, the owner of the company used to live in the condo below me.

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