Apple's iPhone 5S has Some Problems with Motion Sensor Calibration – Here are the Details

The new A7 processor powering the iPhone 5s is quite a beast when it comes down to performances. Synthetic benchmarks have shown this, and there's no denial that the first mobile processor to boast a 64-bit architecture is quite a marvel. However, perfection is unobtainable, regardless of what a salesman or a company would want you to believe. As such, it appears that the new Apple A7 processor has some issues as well.

To be more precise, Apple has developed the A7 Soc in a way that it features a separate silicon dedicated for handling the gadget's sensors and all that. It's basically the same formula adopted by Motorola with the Snapdragon S4 processor used in the Motorola Moto X. The chipset itself is dubbed "X8", and much like Apple's A7 chip, it has separate chips that handle always-on tasks.

The results are quite visible, and with a dedicated chip that handles the motion sensors, the real processing unit gives better results, and battery life is improved.

Apple has also focused greatly on promoting the iPhone 5S and the motion sensing abilities of the A7 - M7 SoC, claiming that this advanced chip can be used in elaborate fitness applications.

It all sounds quite awesome, but the problem is that the iPhone 5S' M7 silicon (the one handling these tasks) appears to have some issues. Several owners of the device have reported that the handset's gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer are not quite accurate. This results in odd behavior such as bad bubble level reading and bad controls in games that make use of motion sensing, among other things.

It's also been reported that these symptoms don't appear to be software related. Chances are that the M7 chip itself may be the problem due to bad factory calibration. The M7 silicon uses the same STMicro gyroscope and the Asahi Kasei compass that Apple has used before, but this year the Cupertino giant has thrown in a new Bosch Sensortech accelerometer in the Mix.

Whatever the cause of these bad sensor readings is, if there's a hardware problem, then it's not going to be fixed with ease. I'm fairly sure that future iPhone 5S units will be fixed and the problem will be dealt with, but for now, keep these details in mind if you wish to buy Apple's latest flagship smartphone.

Source: Gizmodo / MacRumors
Via: Phone Arena