Report: Apple Considering Switch Away from Intel CPUs

Apple is said to be considering a move that would see the company step away from Intel and towards its own solution for processors in its Mac computers. Bloomberg cites people familiar with the company’s research that say Apple is exploring ways to replace Intel processors with a version of the chip technology it uses in the iPhone and iPad.

Apple has been using Intel chips for the last seven years but its mobile devices have been powered by its own solutions for two and a half years. According to Bloomberg's sources, Apple engineers are confident that the chip will eventually be powerful enough to run its desktops and laptops. Though it's not going to happen in the immediate future, Bloomberg's sources believe it's only a matter of time.

Apple debuted it's first custom chip in the form of the Apple A4, which powered the original iPad and later the iPhone 4, in 2010. A year later, the company introduced the A5, which powered the iPad 2, the iPhone 4S, and the fifth generation iPhone touch. The third generation iPad is based on the A5X, while the fourth generation tablet, released just last month, is based on the A6X. The iPhone 5 runs on a regular A6 chip.

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  • yialanliu
    Didn't they try that before and it failed?
    Reply
  • samuelspark
    I was hoping they'd be switching to AMD. They need the money.
    Reply
  • zzz_b
    Isn't an ARM core inside these chips? If yes, they are licesing it, not developing it.
    Reply
  • steve360
    ARM finding new ways to get under Intel's skin?
    Reply
  • eternalkp
    what are they doing at apple?
    Reply
  • digiex
    Go Apple, do it, and it will seal the doom of the Mac.
    Reply
  • ohim
    So here comes another software incompatibility on MACs.. first from the move from Power PC to Intel CPU now this :), ofc they will charge money again for the new software and god knows what for hardware.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    They wont be able to make x86 compatible hardware. Intel wont license that.
    They can make only ARM chips. Added advantage : OSX for ARM incompatible with x86 hardware. So people who want new OS, have to buy new hardware.
    EPIC WIN
    Reply
  • Once upon a time the Motorola 68000 series compared very favorably to their 286/386/486 contemporaries, and the early IBM PowerPCs could beat the Pentiums clock for clock, but the architecture started to fall behind around the year 2000 and was so thoroughly obsolete by 2006 that Apple had no choice but to go x86.

    Today, however, Apple really doesn't care about performance. The new desktop with an iPad CPU in it would have a brushed aluminium case, a glowing LED Apple logo, and millions of people will happily shell out $3000 for it even if it takes half an hour to open a .jpg
    Reply
  • Northwestern
    Motorola 68xxx -> PowerPC -> x86 -> ?
    Reply