iOS 5.1 Beta Features Hidden Quad-Core CPU Code

References to a quad-core processor have been found buried deep inside iOS 5.1 betas, suggesting that Apple’s next-generation iPhone and iPad will boast immense graphical and processing capabilities.

As reported by 9to5mac, iOS 5.1 (currently in internal beta testing) features have updated processing-core management software that not only supports the dual-core A5 chip, but also quad-core processing, likely for the rumored A6 SoC.

Those who discovered the evidence explained that “the references to quad-core iPhone and iPad chips come by way of a hidden panel that describes cores that are supported by iOS device hardware. The updated core management software includes an option of ‘/cores/core.3,’ and this represents a fourth available processing core.”

Apple has been rumored to launch two new iPads this year, as well as the much anticipated iPhone 5.

The references to quad-core processing indicate, at the very least, that Apple is testing iOS 5 builds against more advanced hardware. It isn’t necessarily a must to see a quad-core iPad 3 this March (the rumored launch date for Apple’s next tablet), but a Retina display with 1,536x2,048 resolution would certainly make good use of the extra horsepower.

In August, Softpedia reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry by market shares, had reportedly started trial production of Apple’s upcoming A6 processor.

A Taipei source said at the time that trial production was underway “in cooperation with Apple Inc.”. Industry sources quoted by CENS.com had said that “the production design [will] be taped out in the first quarter of [2012] and [is] scheduled to be publicly unveiled in the second quarter at the earliest.”

And if all this information doesn’t spell quad-core A6 CPU, then common sense will. 2010 saw the single-core A4 introduced. 2011 yielded the dual-core A5. If there’s a pattern here, 2012 is the year of the quad-core A6.