Although there is increasing talk that Apple may be looking at using its own home-grown A-series ARM processors in place of Intel CPUs in their Mac line of computers, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich says his company’s relationship with the Cupertino firm remains “strong.”
“Apple is always going to choose the supplier who can provide them the most amount of capability and innovation for them to build on, for them to innovate,” Krzanich said during an interview with CNBC. “They’re a company based on innovation. Our job is to continue to deliver parts that have that capability, that are better than our competitors, and then they want to use our parts.”
This isn’t the first time rumors about an Apple move away from Intel has risen, and Intel has always given basically the same reply about the situation. “We hear the same rumors and it would be remiss of us to be dismissive. We endeavor to innovate so they’ll continue to look to us as a supplier,” Intel’s Ultrabook chief Greg Welch said when asked about Apple’s potential plans in 2011.
The rumor mill began to grind in earnest once more this week, as reports from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and JP Morgan’s Rod Hall both suggested that Apple’s increasingly powerful A-series chip, currently used in the company’s popular iOS devices, may soon be powerful enough for Apple to consider using them for its Mac line of desktop and laptop computers.
Rumors last year claimed Apple had built a OS X operating system to run on ARM processors such as its S-series, with several prototype machines having reportedly already been developed.
A move from the Intel processor would have the side effect of sacrificing direct hardware compatibility with the Windows operating system, however this becomes less and less of a drawback as the computing world moves forward.
While Kuo is a relatively reliable source for information such as this, it must be remembered that this is all merely the opinion of one analyst, and we’ll need to take a wait and see attitude as we move forward.
