Why Apple Adding AV1 Support Is A Big Deal
One Small Step For Apple, One Giant Leap For Open Standards
In a previous post I discussed the improved A17 Pro ‘SoC’. Apple stressed how much of an improvement the GPU in this chip was which I wrote about. But there was also something I realized when rewatching the event:
And there is now hardware AV1 support. This is the open source video codec that is taking the world by storm. It replaces HEVC which requires licensing fees to use and is more efficient too. Having AV1 in the iPhone, and likely Macs too, is big news. Probably the biggest news as it means many streaming sites are going to begin sending you AV1 content instead of HEVC. Maybe I should write another post on this.
When I was watching this keynote I thought AV1 support was a huge deal, rivalling the GPU improvements. I no longer think that. Because if you think about it watching videos is not what you’re doing the majority of the time you’re on a device. It’s probably scrolling on web pages. Something that apparently uses a lot more power based on Apple’s battery life claims.
