1. Apple abandoned Intel: It's not easy to break up;
This week there are reports that Apple will gradually replace Intel processors in its Mac series with its own chips. Although similar rumours have been heard for a long time, this time it is worth thinking seriously in the industry: How difficult is it for Apple to truly achieve this goal? Apple seems to be very likely to take this matter seriously. The report on Monday came from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg Businessweek.
As an outsider, he did a good job of predicting Apple's strategy. From some perspectives, Apple has spent several years laying the foundation of the strategy's hardware, not only investing heavily in the development of its own chips, but also its iOS. The elements of the mobile operating system and the MacOS desktop system are integrated to make the replacement of the processor feasible.
In spite of this, abandoning Intel processors will bring a series of troubles. How Apple will influence the next decade will affect the company's development.
Chip partner
Since 2006, Intel has provided processors for Apple’s Mac series. The relationship between the two is a long-term cooperation and mutual benefit. Although the MacBook and iMac are not as attractive to users as the iPhone, However, Apple still sold nearly $7 billion worth of MacBooks and desktops in the last quarter. In addition, according to reports, Apple provided Intel with approximately 4% revenue last year.
This seems to be a fairly symbiotic relationship. However, Apple’s desire to be independent would not be too surprising. Considering that the company has developed A-series chips for the iPhone, there are also S-series for the Apple Watch. Chips and W series chips for wireless headsets. In addition, the coprocessors for Apple's Mac series are also produced by the company. Just a year ago, Apple began designing its own graphics and graphics processor GPU.
It seems that at this moment, Intel chips appear more like an exception in the Mac series. Apple hopes to produce these chips for the same reason that the main Andriod smartphone manufacturers have always wanted to abandon Qualcomm: If you You can do it yourself, and don't rely on others.
Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillette, a market research firm, said: 'Looks like what they argue is getting deeper and deeper. That means that the more technical barriers you control, the more you can improve. The appearance of the 'A series chip allows Apple to customize the chip specifically for iPhone's needs. The W series chip provides the Air Pod with more powerful Bluetooth capabilities. Even the iMac Pro has a sub-T2 chip from Apple Inc. Device security. Using the same strategy for traditional computer products also helps Apple stand out. This also means that Apple may release new products at the pace of its own technology upgrades, without the need to coordinate the progress of Intel's products.
All of this seems to have proven that it is not only possible that Apple's Mac products will discard Intel chips, but it is inevitable. However, anyone can tell you that there is a huge gap between ideals and reality.
Power transfer
As Gulman has reported, Apple hopes to replace the X86 architecture chips that have been used for more than a decade with chips based on ARM designs, just like the chips used in iPhone smartphones. However, there will be at least two such chip replacements. Huge obstacles.
The first is the chip itself. The chip architecture based on ARM is more efficient, but in terms of power alone, it can't be compared with Intel's high-end products. Although the report predicts that Apple will not be able to gradually replace the Mac chip by 2020 at least. However, observers will still doubt whether the ARM chip architecture has enough time to catch up with Intel's product performance.
Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy, a market research firm, said: 'From a computational point of view, an ARM architecture chip is equivalent to an Intel Core i3 processor or a low-end Core i5 processor.' Murherd compared the performance of ARM chips with entry-level Intel chips. 'I couldn't imagine that their processors could approach the performance of Xeon or Core i7 by 2020.'
Of course, there are potential solutions. Apple can simply replace its entry-level MacBook with an ARM-based processor and continue to adopt Intel chips on the high-end Mac series until the ARM chip architecture meets its product requirements. In the next few years, Apple may shift the role of traditionally some processor CPUs to the GPU of an image processing chip that it has effectively controlled.
"We have begun to handle similar tasks by integrating GPUs," said Eric Hanselman, principal analyst at 451 Research. "When GPU acceleration becomes one of the core elements of more complex computing problems, ARM The architecture actually begins to make more sense because customers can now more easily integrate and build custom environments.
Segmenting its product line looks like the strategy that Apple is most likely to implement; Gulman describes a so-called 'multi-step transition' process, but it also creates a lot of trouble for developers and consumers. According to reports Apple A platform is being developed to allow developers to write the same applications for MacOS and iOS, but this mixed mode will cause complications, especially if some devices use ARM chips and other devices still use Intel chips. in this way.
'MacOS devices use Intel chips, but iOS devices do not,' Moorehead pointed out, 'MacOS and iOS are very different in multitasking, the number of threads used, and peripheral support. You can almost Everything you want is tucked into your Mac, but you must enable it before using it in iOS.
At the same time, developers may need to re-develop OS X versions based on the ARM chip architecture for their applications, just as they did when Apple transitioned to Intel chips a decade ago.
"There is no magical way for Apple to eliminate this complexity. Just as we saw Apple transition from PowerPC to Intel, there is no magic that can make Mac PowerPC applications run directly on Intel chips," Mu said. Held said, 'Most applications must be recompiled, many need to be rewritten.'
If the Mac series is replaced with an ARM chip architecture, Apple may also find that users encounter various problems when using the MacOS-iOS mashup system. It was not long ago when Microsoft tried to introduce the mobile user interface to the Windows 8 operating system. When desktop, it caused fierce opposition from users. This change made users feel confused and annoyed most of the time. Although Apple has made some adjustments, there is a gap between MacOS operating system and iOS operating system. Much in common - Apple's file system released last spring can switch freely between the two operating systems - but Apple must overcome the ingrained habits that users have developed over the years when using Apple devices.
'In my opinion, the problems of different operating systems are very important, especially considering that they have completely separated the graphical user interface from the touch interface,' Gillette said. 'Seeking truth from facts, they are facing changes in the replacement of processors. A huge technical obstacle, and it is also a huge emotional challenge for the user. '
At the same time, from now until 2020, Mac developers have little incentive to invest a lot of work into the redevelopment of related applications. And potential Mac buyers have full reason to sit in and look outside. This means significant Changes are likely to have serious product stagnation.
Both
If time is stretched, all of these potential problems can be overcome. Relatively speaking, Apple's gains seem to make it worth the effort.
Hanselman pointed out, 'I am sure that the attractiveness of the ARM licensing model is the real reason for Apple to abandon Intel processors. This will bring more control to Apple. This will not only allow Apple to freely use its own capabilities. Controlling also helps defend the company's intellectual property.
But breaking up with Intel is not as simple as turning around. If this is the case, Apple did it as early as a few years ago. This will require the company's senior management of the risk, the hard work of the developer, and the need for the MacBook. The user's wishes. In particular, Apple should consider when and how ARM-based processors meet the needs of professional users.
Apple's reason for adopting its own processor on Mac products is obvious. But it is not surprising and not so easy to abandon Intel. This is how Apple will reshape the future without destroying the future. Phoenix Technology
2.Intel is developing the Big.Little size core x86 new architecture: codename Lakefield;
Some friends who know something about the mobile phone SoC are no strangers to the 'Big.Little' architecture. This is a heterogeneous CPU design that was first introduced on the ARM platform. It can balance high performance with low power consumption. Have you ever thought about Intel x86? Can also be imitated? Theoretically, Intel developed a lot of CPU architecture based on the x86 instruction set, high-performance Core (Cool), such as 'Coffee Lake' 'Skylake' 'Haswell' and so on, low-power platforms have ATOM in Used 'Silvermont' 'Goldmont' etc.
According to the Motley Fool Tech broke news analyst Ashraf Eassa, Intel is secretly developing an architecture design codenamed 'Lakefield', where the high-performance big core is based on 'Icelake' and the small core is based on 'Tremont'.
IceLake is the platform code behind Cannonlake and is said to be used on the 10th generation Core, while Tremont is the successor to Goldmont Plus.
Eassa revealed that Intel will create 'Lakefield' SoC products with thermal design power consumption of 28W and 35W for notebook and other products.
Of course, for such a brand-new 'size kernel' design, some in-depth optimization work may be needed in terms of compatibility so that operating systems, software, games, etc. can be fully identified and efficiently mobilized.
3. Strong demand for memory chips Samsung’s operating profit in the first quarter increased 57.6% year-on-year;
According to the Yonhap News Agency, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. released its initial financial report for the first quarter of 2018 on the 6th, initially verifying that its operating profit for the first quarter of 2018 was 15.6 trillion won (about 92.6 billion yuan), an increase of 57.6% year-on-year. This was a 3.0% increase from the previous quarter and a record high. At the same time, the operating profit margin in the first quarter reached 26.0%, an increase of 6.4 percentage points year-on-year. It also set a new record.
Samsung Electronics stated that its operating profit in the first quarter is expected to reach 15.6 trillion won (approximately US$14.6 billion), an increase of 57.58% from 9.89 trillion won in the same period of last year; revenue is expected to increase by 18.69% year-on-year, from the previous year The same period of 50.5 trillion won increased to 60 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics' operating profit in the first quarter exceeded market expectations. According to the analysis, it is mainly due to the long-term prosperity of the global semiconductor market, which is dominated by memory chips.
According to the plan, the company will publish its first quarterly official financial report by the end of this month. Experts generally predict that Samsung Electronics will once again set a record high in the second quarter, with annual sales of 260.8 trillion won and operating profit of 62.4 trillion won this year. First Finance
4. Hong Kong One-Dimensional Investment Fund Says Toshiba's chip division should be worth more than US$30 billion
Reuters, Tokyo, April 6 - Hong Kong’s rights investment fund, Argyle Street Management Ltd, opposes Toshiba’s sale of its chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital, saying the deal should be between 3.3 trillion and 4.4 The valuation of trillion yen (30 billion -41 billion U.S. dollars) was renegotiated based on the valuation.
Argyle Street Management stated on Friday that the current transaction was reached when Toshiba urgently needed cash. At that time, its chip division had a valuation of 2 trillion yen. The investment fund stated that Toshiba is no longer insolvent. The right to terminate the sale of the chip business without incurring any penalty because the transaction was not completed before the March 31 deadline.
Argyle Street Management added that if Bain’s consortium does not agree to a higher price, Toshiba should consider listing the chip division.