“While changes in the ancient market-share rivalry between chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices were unremarkable in 2010, the emergence of Apple as a force was anything but,” Brooke Crothers reports for CNET. “‘The year 2010 was marked by the rise of a new platform: the media tablet, led by Apple’s iPad, which employed a [chip] at its heart designed by Apple,’ said IHS iSuppli [in a research note this week].”

“Though the Apple A4 processor and recently announced A5 chip are made by Samsung Electronics, that’s no different than, for instance, Qualcomm-branded chips, which are fabricated by Asia-based contract chip manufacturers,” Crothers reports. “The note continues. ‘IHS believes unit shipments of media tablets soared to 17.4 million in 2010, up from zero in 2009, with levels expected to grow to more than 240 million units in 2015.’”

Crothers reports, “240 million is a very big number and portends seismic shifts in the chip market…”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]