It’s was quite known fact that the new Apple TV has an A5 processor. But that A5 processor is somewhat different from other Apple devices such as iPad 2. Even Apple advertises it as a single core on their website. And the things became more clear when several exploits from hackers failed in the new Apple TV while trying to JailBreak it in the previous way. Now, after checking out the insights of Apple TV, folks from Chipworks have confirmed that it includes a dual core processor.
If Apple advertises new Apple TV as one core chip on their site, there could be two possibilities. Either Apple has made only one core functional or they are binned parts. Binning parts is a method to segregate parts based on the meetings of a subset of the overall requirements. In this case, Apple could have disabled the bad core which increases the usability die per wafer. Hence, results in lowering the cost of the device. Earlier, the A5 was manufactured by Samsung on the old technology, from the so called 45 nm LP CMOS process.
The A5 chip in the new Apple TV is manufactured by Samsung on the new technology which is 41% smaller. Nevertheless, the battery consumption is less and the overall costs reduces by a certain amount. Thereby, leading to more dies in a wafer. If you still doubt on it, you can also checkout the pics of the teardown of new Apple TV where both the cores have been shown. Did you know about it already? Shout out in the comment section if you have any more info on it.