Apple Expected to Surpass Intel as Top Mobile Chipmaker

[kcorp2003]

Okay apple, you "Expect".

 

[leon2006]

Apple has ARM design team w/ in the company. APPLE is FABLESS semicon for ARM processor. Samsung take the design and build the chip for Apple.

 

[leon2006]

Intel is INTELOUTSIDE in mobile sector of the industry (phone and tablet)...INTEL OUTSIDE

 

[leon2006]

APPLE is CHIPMAKER. Its a fabless semicon using Samsung to fabricate the ARM CPU. APPLE can use TSMC, INTEL, or other IC FABHOUSE to built its APPLE DESIGN ARM CPU.

APPLE is a CHIPMAKER...That's a fact

 

[loomis86]

[citation][nom]leon2006[/nom]APPLE is CHIPMAKER. Its a fabless semicon using Samsung to fabricate the ARM CPU. APPLE can use TSMC, INTEL, or other IC FABHOUSE to built its APPLE DESIGN ARM CPU.APPLE is a CHIPMAKER...That's a fact[/citation]


The last time Apple ever made anything was when Wozniak made it with his own two hands.

 

[balev]

Yeah, sorry Tom's. One reason I read news online is to escape the tabloid nonsense. I honestly can't stand it. I come here to read interesting news about technology, not be tricked into reading nonsensical articles.

Perhaps it's time for me to look for other outlets.

 

[dheadley]

They design their ARM SoC just as much as any other company does. Samsung, TI, Qualcomm, Nvidia etc, do not do one single thing more than Apple does to produce their designs.

They also don't just tell some other company give me a SoC with this GPU and this Core. They have two of the top ARM technology designers inhouse now. You do know that Intrinsic has one of the best power technologies on the market. Designed by them not ARM and now owned by Apple for use in their A series SoC's only. You do realize that that Intrinsic and PA Semi are two of the top SoC designer companies out there and are now part of Apple? You do realize that they bought a lot of the Freescale IP? You do realize they baked Audiances hardware sound technology into their A5 series SoC to give Siri help and it is the most advanced mobile audio hardware available? You do realize that they incorporated Imagination Technologies PVRTC2 tecture technology into the A5X and MP4 GPU and it is the fastest mobile GPU you can buy? The Apple hate on this site is so far out in left field at times.

 

[CKKwan]

[citation][nom]shardey[/nom]Apple designs their chips, Samsung manufactures. This headline is misleading, unless they consider designing chips as a "chipmaker"[/citation]

AMD is also selling out all their factories, focus on design only. So do we consider AMD a chip maker?

 

[LMF5000]

For me, this article was the last straw in a spate of apple-related articles with misleading titles written solely so that Tom's gets more pageviews. I have removed Tom's Hardware from my RSS feed and replaced it with some proper, honest PC websites (there are plenty to choose from - Anandtech, Extremetech, Jonnyguru to name just a few).

Shame on you Tom's for becoming another site filled with tabloid-esque nonsense and attention-grabbing headlines that distort the facts.

 

[n8dogg]

Who ever writes these articles should be taken out behind the barn and shot!

 

[Ogdin]

Another fud headline from Douglas..........

 

[sinfulpotato]

Really? Really? Apple is a software company! They don't manufacture anything.

 

[leon2006]

[citation][nom]loomis86[/nom]The last time Apple ever made anything was when Wozniak made it with his own two hands.[/citation]

If you are not in the semicon industry you don't know what fabless semicon is... APPLE is nothing different from NVIDIA, QUALCOM, BROADCOM... These companies design ICs. Actual fabrication is done by wafer foundries like TSMC, UMC, Global Foundries, IBM, etc. Even Intel offered IC foundry services to APPLE to build its ARM CPU for IPHONE/IPAD.

The recipe to make the CPU(design file) are made by chip designers. It is sent to the IC foundries to build the IC from the design file. Samsung or the any IC foundry can't build the IC w/o the design file.

Intel and IBM are one of the very few companies who have design capibility and ic foundry factory

 

[Blandge]

[citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]They design their ARM SoC just as much as any other company does. Samsung, TI, Qualcomm, Nvidia etc, do not do one single thing more than Apple does to produce their designs. [/citation]

[citation][nom]leon2006][/nom]APPLE is nothing different from NVIDIA, QUALCOM, BROADCOM...[/citation]

Both are wrong. Read here:

Whereas chip designers like Samsung and Texas Instruments (TI) (AND APPLE) license the architecture for ARM’s Cortex cores, Qualcomm designed their own ARM-compatible cores.

So yes, Apple, Samsung, TI, etc. do far less technical architectural work on their CPUs than true design companies. Don't hide behind Apples billions of dollars. They are a marketing company first that put style and user experience before all else. It sells. Sells well. But don't try and pretend that Apple's laughable $3 billion in R & D makes them equal to the likes of Microsoft, Intel or IBM in terms of technical innovation and contribution.

 

[loomis86]

[citation][nom]leon2006[/nom]If you are not in the semicon industry you don't know what fabless semicon is... APPLE is nothing different from NVIDIA, QUALCOM, BROADCOM... These companies design ICs. Actual fabrication is done by wafer foundries like TSMC, UMC, Global Foundries, IBM, etc. Even Intel offered IC foundry services to APPLE to build its ARM CPU for IPHONE/IPAD.The recipe to make the CPU(design file) are made by chip designers. It is sent to the IC foundries to build the IC from the design file. Samsung or the any IC foundry can't build the IC w/o the design file.Intel and IBM are one of the very few companies who have design capibility and ic foundry factory[/citation]


Not only does apple not fab any components, they don't even assemble anything. I'd have to see proof that apple designed any CPU or any other chip anywhere in any current apple product...and even then I might not believe it.

 

[f-14]

sorry folks nothing to read here douglas perry took a hit off a very bad batch of Rohypnol laced LSD when he wrote this article.
i'm sure mr perry didn't buy his college journalism degree from a cracker jack box like this article proclaims apple to design and manufacture chips for which the components in their products are patented and not licensed to to apple.
again apologize on behalf of toms owners and lack of editorial oversight.
please do not sue the holy hell out of tomshardware for false and misleading statements, apple places all blame and bus throwing under upon the bad drugs mr perry is taking, and wish mr. perry well in his soon to be company sponsored drug rehab recovery absence.

 

[viciouz2000]

I believe LG manufactures the retina display for apple, they have an exclusive contract with lg for the retina display until whatever date that exclusivity is for. Apple does not manufacture any of their own products, they just exclusively contract out the parts and brand them as apple themselves from major manufacturers

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]viciouz2000[/nom]I believe LG manufactures the retina display for apple, they have an exclusive contract with lg for the retina display until whatever date that exclusivity is for. Apple does not manufacture any of their own products, they just exclusively contract out the parts and brand them as apple themselves from major manufacturers[/citation]
I think that the retina display on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are from LG, but the LCD on the new iPad is from Samsung.

 

[ericburnby]

So many people who don't have a clue how products are manufactured these days. Whoever designs a product, whether it be a chip or a finished product like an iPad is responsible for 99% of the work it took to create that device. The FAB company (in the case of chips) or the assembler (like Foxconn) is responsible for the other 1%.

People seem to think that because they've built a few PC's themselves that major companies do exactly the same thing - pick up a few off-the-shelf components and get someone to put it together for them. This couldn't be further from the truth.

But hey, if it makes you haters feel better to think Apple doesn't design or manufacturer anything, then more power to you. Whatever makes you happy. Even if it involves living in your own version of a "reality distortion field".

 

[leon2006]

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/31/apple_to_expand_cpu_design_group_beyond_ipad_a4.html

 

[Guest]

The article is inaccurate and ignorant. Chips made inside Apple products "may" top Intel this year depending on how hot Windows 8 is. If Windows 8 is really hot, I expect x86 tablets to be the big seller. No one is going to want a stripped down Windows 8 that doesn't run their apps (WOA). This could propel Intel past Apple this year and for sure in 2013 when a full slate of Intel mobile products are on the market. I guess Intel should not have sold the xScale processor so they could obtain the stupid title of having the most mobile chips out there even though xScale was an ARM design.

 

[Guest]

as long as i get traffic then ....
shame on you tabloidesque D.P ...shame on you....

 

[rosen380]

I guess Nike and Reebok also aren't among the top shoemakers either since they pass their designs off to other companies as well...

 

[Teeroy32]

[citation][nom]southernshark[/nom]Yes OF COURSE Apple makes more chips than Intel. Apple makes all of the Intel chips in its Macs and it makes all of the ARM chips in its mobile devices. If Apple ever uses the Atom or AMD processor in its IPAD then Apple will make those too. Its quite possible even that Apple made Intel and that Microsoft is just an illusion believed in by simply people who do not understand that Apple invented the computer and that all computers belong to Apple.[/citation]

Took a couple of reads till I got it but funny

 

[Marcus52]

While I think some of the talk I've read about Tomshardware going down hill has been uncalled for, "articles" like this greatly disappoint me.