Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do you think Apple will build their own processors?

Pretty hard to build a processor. Intel does a very good job of it and Apple has its work cut out just keeping up with OS and business end of Apple Franchise.
 
I can't think of any reason why Apple would ever develop its own x86 processors. I'm sure they'll continue to partner with third parties when they need custom chippery, though.

Maybe long-term OS X will end up running on ARM, and the processors will be to Apple's design as they are now for iOS devices. Very much long-term.
 
I can`t see it myself, it would take far too long to recoup the massive investment it would require.
In an ideal world I`d like Intel doing the CPU and AMD doing the graphics.
Apple should stick to what they are good at, assembling other peoples components into well designed machines.
 
I don't see it happening.

Before we saw the AIM (Apple, IBM and Motorola) alliance. Don't expect to see something like this again. Although we may see something with AMD someday in addition to Intel. But other than that, just don't see it.
 
sushi said:
I don't see it happening.

Before we saw the AIM (Apple, IBM and Motorola) alliance. Don't expect to see something like this again. Although we may see something with AMD someday in addition to Intel. But other than that, just don't see it.
Click to expand...

i disagree there, i disagree with most of the comments in this thread thus far.

maybe i am getting my hopes up too much, but the fact that apple has purchased its own CPU manufacturing company indicates to me that in the LONG RUN they will eventually aim to implement a chip of their own.

in the short term, i think apple will use the chips to put into the iphones, ipads and ipods. mid term, they might go into the MBAs and lower end MBs. from there, maybe even the imacs - depending on how they compare to the intel counterparts, but from early signs, its pretty good!
 
My initial response was "no chance!"
Upon reflection however, it is feasible that Apple could use their mega profits to buy a company like ARM and make all the iPod/iPhone/iPad processors in-house that way. Then you could imagine somewhere down the line (when iOS has merged with the deskop OS) some kind of massively parallel ARM processor powering Macs.
 
DoFoT9 said:
i disagree there, i disagree with most of the comments in this thread thus far.

maybe i am getting my hopes up too much, but the fact that apple has purchased its own CPU manufacturing company indicates to me that in the LONG RUN they will eventually aim to implement a chip of their own.
Click to expand...

When did Apple buy a fab? They bought Intrinsity which is a custom CPU design company, or did I miss something?
 
sammich said:
Wikipedia to the rescue!
Click to expand...

haha touché, friend. so this means that P.A Semi steals (uses) designs from existing companies?

i wonder what the chance is of apple moulding P.A Semi to start producing architectures - apple has done it before so they would have a pretty good idea.
 
No way, that kind of work requires thousands of PhD scientists and serious math/physics/chemistry/masterials science/engineering , not liberal arts majors. But I could see Apple requesting their own chips.

I actually think they will go AMD in some of their desktops within 5 years.
 
I was going to say something along the lines of AIM failing and the G5 being a mess on the laptop front, but MOFS beat me to it. 😉
 
In the near future? No. Intel can provide that service at a fraction of the cost compared to Apple. However, I do think eventually (5+ years) more Apple "computers" will be like similar to the iPad and will likely use an Apple-designed ARM processor. (There's a big difference between designed and built.)

Apple knows the future is efficient, low power and thin computing devices. The current crop of X86 processors are designed to be multipurpose and are highly inefficient (and overkill to some extent) for most consumer's needs (internet surfing, word processing, video playback, etc).

We're going to see big changes in the desktop and notebook space in the next five years (think trucks).

Microsoft is banking on this idea also (see their ARM announcement).
 
Last edited:
SidBala said:
Apple could make their own hardware. But I can't imagine them being competitive against Intel, AMD and nVidia.

Those guys have been doing this for many years now.
Click to expand...

I couldn't see Apple even trying to compete with intel, AMD, or anyone for that matter. Apple isn't into the licensing out their products. They wouldn't sell their designs or chips to anyone. No real reason to compete.

If they were to buy AMD they would more than likely have to complete AMD's contracts which would take years or possibly even decades. Not sure if it was leaked or not, but I'm pretty certain than when Apple made the switch from PowerPC to Intel they probably had to sign a multi-year contact with Intel to buy so many chips per year...
 
Designing a complex processor and actually building it (need a fab plant) are two different things. Could Apple design their own custom complex processor... yes. For that you need experienced Engineers. You can buy them for a competitive salary and bonuses.

To build your own processors you need your own Fab Plant. Those things are mega expensive and every time you do a die shrink... you need to build a new Fab or if you have several Fab plants maybe you can gut one and retrofit it to the new technology. That is an extremely expensive game. Fab companies are now starting to partner with each other and build one Fab plant that both use to save on the expense that keeping current in fab technology requires. Apple will never go down this path if they are smart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back