RaduTyrsina
News Team
Some time ago it was reported via ZDNet that Apple had started shifting its attention towards Intel because it was thinking of transforming it into their iPad processor supplier. However, darkness has covered the topic ever since and no new information about it surfaced. Until now. RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman has jolted up what some thought was a dead subject. He seems to believe that an Apple – Intel partnership in the processor department is very likely to happen in the near future.
It is known that Apple currently designs its own silicon processors for the iPhone and iPad which are a version of the ARM core chip. Samsung was in charge of shipping them to Cupertino, but ever since the bitter war between the two giants has escalated, Apple has started looking in other directions to find a worthy partner. Nevertheless, Samsung and Apple are bound by contract to co-exist until 2015, but nowhere in the papers is stipulated that Cupertino can’t look for replacements in the meantime. More than that, the iPhone maker has already started relaying some of its orders in the way of Taiwanese company TSMC. The process of adjustment has been hard nevertheless. At least so far.
Freedman believes that the partnership could prove to be symbiotic for the two companies. Apple would get its precious processors for its iPads, for example. In return Apple would allow Intel’s x86 chips to remain in the MacBook Airs. "We believe Intel has the upper hand due to the limitations of capacity at alternative sources ... as the demand is outstripping Apple's ability to add supply".
Source: Zdnet
