Apple's self-developed chip program reported another new trend. On April 3rd, according to Bloomberg News, Apple plans to start using its own self-developed CPU chip as soon as 2020 to replace the Intel processor. It is reported that Apple's self-developed chip The project code name 'Kalamate' is still in its initial stage of development, but it can be seen that Apple is further strengthening the closed-loop core technology.
As soon as the news came out, Intel stocks fell 6.07% on that day. However, many industry analysts pointed out to 21st Century Economic Reporter that all Mac computers will have little chance of being self-developed chips by 2020, and the impact on Intel will be limited. Apple and Intel declined to comment.
Self-developed products are Apple's long-term strategy. It is not an overnight decision. In order to maintain a good system experience, designing hardware products, and finding the most top manufacturers for OEM, to achieve hardware and software integration, is the basis of Apple. Apple from Since the beginning of the A6 chip, we have used our self-designed chips in mobile products, but now we are relying on Intel on the Mac. With Apple's long-standing countermeasures, we will find multiple suppliers for its products and Apple on computer processors. Also hope to break the monopoly of Intel. Now, Apple has released the signal from the computer chip, or "remind" Intel.
Short-term impact on Intel is limited
According to the reporter's understanding, behind the 'Kalamate' project, Apple plans to open up the iPhone, iPad, and Mac products. Currently, both the iPhone and iPad use the iOS system, and they use the ARM architecture chip developed by Apple. Mac computers are equipped with Intel's x86 chips, and the system is macOS. If the self-developed ARM version of the chip is successfully used for Mac computers, then Apple's mobile and PC products will be more easily docked.
Ji Jiatuo Industrial Research Institute analyst Yao Jiayang analyzed with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter: “Since Apple introduced its own processor on the iPhone, it has been further collocated with iOS, allowing the overall use of mobile phones to improve the experience. There are reports that Apple is likely to move its own processor design to the Mac. We believe that with the ARM's maturity in the 64-bit ecosystem, Apple has traditionally not liked to be hampered by suppliers. Therefore, using the design of its own processor, one can avoid Intel's containment, and secondly, it can also meet the optimization in system design.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple will launch three new Macs this year -- MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, and the new product will be equipped with a specific new co-processor, but co-processing. The device does not have much impact on consumers. However, if it is really rumored, the CPU of the Mac computer will also use self-developed products in 2020, and for Apple it will be another victory in the industry chain. , Some point of view, Intel is likely to lose Apple's major customer, the future 'critical'.
So for Intel, what is the "threat" of Apple's self-developed processors? Keybanc analyst Michael McConnell pointed out in a report this week that Intel's average annual income on Apple computers is less than 4 billion U.S. dollars. This year's revenue may be less than Intel's expected sales of 650 billion US dollars. This means that this part of the loss is not huge for Intel.
Yao Jiayang told reporters: 'In recent years, Intel has continued to adjust, although PC is still Intel's main revenue, but compared to the past, PC accounted for the overall proportion of revenue has been relatively reduced. Second, the global PC market is gradually shrinking, In 2018, Apple's market share in the global notebook market was only 10.4%. '
In addition, Apple does not yet have the ability to completely replace the Intel chip. 'We believe that even if Apple introduces its own architecture, in the short term, it may be Intel's and its own architecture in parallel at the same time, mainly software. The ecosystem is highly correlated with holdings and it is not possible to seamlessly switch between the x86 and ARM instruction sets in the short term. Therefore we believe that the impact on Intel is relatively limited in the short term. ' Yao Jiayang said.
Already laid out the chip industry
In the opinion of many people in the industry, it is not realistic for Apple to completely abandon Intel at this stage, and more is to conduct trials at the chip level.
Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights, and industry analyst, pointed out on Twitter that rumours about Apple's abandonment of Intel regularly surfaced, often at the time when the two companies negotiate new deals. 'This does not mean that the news is not true, but Usually means that both parties are in the negotiation stage. In my opinion, some MacBooks may use the enhanced iOS system, but not all types of Mac computers will change in 2020.
Translating iOS and ARM architecture self-developed chips onto Macs is a widely accepted view in the industry. As we all know, the instruction sets of X86 and ARM are quite different. To make iOS and macOS systems compatible with both platforms, It is also very difficult for Apple.
According to Microsoft's case study, the CEO of the Chinese League of Mobile Phones made an analogy. 'Apple's self-developed chips are definitely using the ARM architecture. We want to add the macOS to the ARM version of the chip. In fact, Microsoft has similar attempts. For years, Microsoft has been pushing ARM, Windows 10 The ARM system has also been supported, but now the market response is not good. Apple is now trying to understand it, but it needs to face two major issues. The first is that Apple wants to make a more front-end processor, and the second is how to make it Some apps are compatible. If you can't solve it, it will be difficult to succeed.
For Daddy's point of view, the most reliable attempt for Apple is to introduce a low-end entry-level laptop (such as an iPad plus a keyboard), a more powerful processor, and then use a tablet-based iOS system. Not macOS. 'Objectively speaking, Apple has the advantage that Microsoft does not have, and the iOS system's computing power is large enough. If the consumer's demand for laptops is not too high, the low-end and mid-range notebooks are still tempting. Mac computers are in image processing, Video processing is very powerful, but if the consumer is only used for office, the iOS system is sufficient.
Although it is impossible to abandon Intel at the moment, on the road of self-developed chips, Apple did 'abandoned' many partners. In 2005, Apple abandoned IBM and Motorola's PowerPC chips and turned to invest in more powerful Intel chips; In the iPhone, after Apple and ARM have jointly developed a chip, they no longer use Qualcomm's processor chips. Last year, Apple replaced the Imagination Technologies Group's graphics processing chip with a self-developed product.
Apple has a long-term layout in the chip industry and also has enough funds to operate. A communications industry observer told reporters: 'To expand into the chip industry is Apple's long-term strategy. There is a substantial improvement in the characteristics of its products. In fact, Jobs. The point of view is that any component should be customized and designed. 'As early as 2008, Apple acquired chip maker PA Semi at a price of 278 million US dollars.