Could Apple make their own chips again?

[BrodieApple]

I don't know much about this but the MacBooks seem to be so delayed (is it from the Intel chips?) and Apple could make the chips they want in the time they want with the right engineers.

Let's look at the iPhone 6S A9 chip. Beats any Android including the Note 7. So who knows maybe they could use this expertise in Macs. Anyway what do you all think

 

[T5BRICK]

Why would I want an underpowered arm chip in my MBP? You're talking about a huge performance gap along with the compatibility issues that we'd have to live with for years. The transition from PPC to Intel was painful but worth it in the long run. I don't see a compelling reason to switch back.

 

[BrodieApple]

Why would I want an underpowered arm chip in my MBP? You're talking about a huge performance gap along with the compatibility issues that we'd have to live with for years. The transition from PPC to Intel was painful but worth it in the long run. I don't see a compelling reason to switch back.

You're right unless they could go to making something powerful. Like I said the 6S beats all Android phones. And yes I know computer chips are different and more complex to phones

 

[xb2003]

Intel's product is too good.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

In a couple of generations, they could go in the Macbook. For everything else, no.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Intel have just licensed arm chips for production so it's more likely that Intel will be making more chips for Apple not less (although Apple will design them).

 

[jobs.jdfournier]

You have to understand the chips they make for phones are based off of ARM architecture. They are not creating processors from scratch. There is nothing similar to use for laptop class of processors. Plus Intel is not to blame for the slow release schedule of MacBook Pros.

 

[nebo1ss]

I don't know much about this but the MacBooks seem to be so delayed (is it from the Intel chips?) and Apple could make the chips they want in the time they want with the right engineers.

Let's look at the iPhone 6S A9 chip. Beats any Android including the Note 7. So who knows maybe they could use this expertise in Macs. Anyway what do you all think

Not sure you understand how the Intel and ARM processes differ. ARM is a company that designs processors and licenses them out to others like Apple to integrate into their own designs and arrange FAB wherever they want.

Intel does the complete process including integration and fab. Apple would never be allowed to do what you suggest with Intel chips.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

You have to understand the chips they make for phones are based off of ARM architecture. They are not creating processors from scratch. There is nothing similar to use for laptop class of processors. Plus Intel is not to blame for the slow release schedule of MacBook Pros.

Actually Intel are to blame, the top end chips with the top end graphics (which Apple use in their MacBook Pro lines) have consistently been released some 6-8 months after the cheaper chips used in ultra books etc, this has happened for the last 3 of intels chip changes haswell broadwell and skylake, and kaby lake has just released the u and y series chips suitable for the air or retina MacBook, but the better parts suitable for a pro are not due until Q1 next year.

 

[High Desert]

First off, to my knowledge, Apple has never made a chip, nor have they ever owned and operated a Fab facility. Every part of every product they make is contracted out to a supplier for build and order fulfillment. Yes, they may design or consider existing design for application to their needs, but will drive the supplier absolutely crazy on specs and costs. The current generation of chips, from Intel, have always been leading edge in design and performance. IMO, the last thing Apple needs to do is design, build, staff, maintain, and modify for future build a Wafer / Fab facility when they demand cheap prices from suppliers at no operating cost to them. Just my opinion.

 

[BrodieApple]

First off, to my knowledge, Apple has never made a chip, nor have they ever owned and operated a Fab facility. Every part of every product they make is contracted out to a supplier for build and order fulfillment. Yes, they may design or consider existing design for application to their needs, but will drive the supplier absolutely crazy on specs and costs. The current generation of chips, from Intel, have always been leading edge in design and performance. IMO, the last thing Apple needs to do is design, build, staff, maintain, and modify for future build a Wafer / Fab facility when they demand cheap prices from suppliers at no operating cost to them. Just my opinion.

Yeah, I meant design.

And I know how unrealistic it is now then i guess lol

 

[tubeexperience]

It's not as far fetch as you think.

AMD is in the semi-custom SOCs business. (Think of the processors in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4).

Apple could potentially phone AMD and order custom x86 SOCs for its Macs if it wants.

 

[azpekt]

You're right unless they could go to making something powerful. Like I said the 6S beats all Android phones. And yes I know computer chips are different and more complex to phones

unless Apple will create some unique transparent compatibility layer to run x86-64 apps without performance penalty - any hypothetical power of their CPU will be wasted

 

[pmau]

With Intel PC Architectures you are not only using the CPU.
You get the Memory Management, the PCI Express controllers, USB Controllers ... and so on.
If you build your own CPU, using a highly integrated package, you would have to build all of that as well.
Todays architectures are so efficient because most of it is included on the die itself.

People who are only arguing about X86 at the assembly level tend to overlook that there is a lot more to the whole
architecture than just the CPU.

 

[maflynn]

I'd not want to see Apple's Mac line to move off of intel. That would be the kiss of death for me as customer, i.e., I'd not buy any more macs.

 

[Tech198]

Why would I want an underpowered arm chip in my MBP? You're talking about a huge performance gap along with the compatibility issues that we'd have to live with for years. The transition from PPC to Intel was painful but worth it in the long run. I don't see a compelling reason to switch back.

Intel chips seems to be good in Mac's.. although ARM is used in servers, mobiles & tablets.

 

[Michael Goff]

Why would I want an underpowered arm chip in my MBP? You're talking about a huge performance gap along with the compatibility issues that we'd have to live with for years. The transition from PPC to Intel was painful but worth it in the long run. I don't see a compelling reason to switch back.

They could put a non underpowered ARM chip in their machines. If ARM can run a server, it can run your MacBook Pro.

 

[maflynn]

although ARM is used in servers

What servers and what OS are they running?

 

[jerwin]

What servers and what OS are they running?

Linux

http://cavium.com/pdfFiles/ThunderX_PB_Rev2.pdf

 

[MacBAir]

Why would I want an underpowered arm chip in my MBP? You're talking about a huge performance gap along with the compatibility issues that we'd have to live with for years. The transition from PPC to Intel was painful but worth it in the long run. I don't see a compelling reason to switch back.

Are you seriously suggesting that everybody here is drunk and wants an a9 SoC, at 5W or less, to be put in place of a 45W intel chip + 50 W GPU?

You, me and everybody else have absolutely no idea of what an Apple designed 60W ARM SoC can do. Doesn't Apple have superior performance per watt, especially if you consider the Graphics as well?

We don't know if there's even a performance gap.

Having said that, there are a lot of barriers, even if RAW performance wasn't a issue. It seems pretty obvious to me that iOS will keep evolving, new form factors will emerge (A new iBook, for example) and macOS will be slowly phased out.

 

[kiwipeso1]

You're right unless they could go to making something powerful. Like I said the 6S beats all Android phones. And yes I know computer chips are different and more complex to phones

The 6S does not beat the Snapdragon 820, let alone the 821.

 

[BrodieApple]

The 6S does not beat the Snapdragon 820, let alone the 821.

Galaxy Note 7 vs iPhone 6S Speed Test

 

[kiwipeso1]

Galaxy Note 7 vs iPhone 6S Speed Test

Sure, quote the cheap exploding junk Samsung as if that is representative of Android.

 

[MacBAir]

The 6S does not beat the Snapdragon 820, let alone the 821.

actually it beats both on almost every single task. The only difference is Geekbench 3 multicore performance.
On geekbench 4 beta the multicore difference is almost irrelevant.

When you factor in that all devices have massive throttling compared with the iPhone, and they aren't designed to have their 4 or 8 cores at their maximum at the same time, we can categorically confirm that all available snapdragon chips are inferior on any single task.

Just try and convert a video on both, like that speedtest link showed.

Of course, if you saw the video, you will see that the iPhone 6s Plus beat every single flagship on the market by a big margin (All Nexus, all HTCs, All Samsungs, All Sony, etc.), even on the part where they converted a video.

 

[kiwipeso1]

There are 2 fallacies here in this thread.

1. Arm chips being superior to intel core chips as far as performance goes.
2. Cellphone chips being considered in the same type as computer chips.

When you realise why these assumptions are false starters, please reconsider why Apple should cripple their computers even further than the Macbook Retina toys are already.
Then consider what does Apple have to gain from losing it's compatibility with existing OS X and MacOS software.
Then consider why should Apple restrict the possibilities of performance, and have the worst of both Mac and iOS in a device that will not be able to cut the mustard as far as performing worse than previous models, and for a higher price.

Then feel free to make snarky comments about the world renowned cheapskates at Samsung who are noted for making flammable washing machines, exploding galaxy note 7s and other junk of even less quality than the iPhone 3GS ?