“While Apple likely will not market the chip publicly, analysts say the new processor underscores how rival chip designs may eventually win out over Intel Corp’s designs in the emergent hot category of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets,” Sherr reports.
“But analysts point to an uphill battle against Nvidia Corp, Marvell and Qualcomm Inc, already making headway with cheaper, low-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings PLC,” Sherr reports. “‘They (Intel) don’t have a track record in delivering these types of chips,’ said Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang. ‘They haven’t been successful in the past, and they’re trying to get in.'”
“Not much is known of the A4 — the brainchild of Apple design teams including recently acquired PA Semi — except that it gives the iPad a long battery life and is considered comparable to rival processors in both speed and performance,” Sherr reports. “That Apple went its own way illustrates how specialized chip design may be more suitable for the burgeoning mobile market than Intel’s do-everything approach.”
Sherr reports, “Intel-based tablet laptops have been sold without huge success for nearly a decade. Apple uses Intel chips in its Macintosh personal computers and servers… But just as Apple shunned Intel for the iPad, most tablet and smartphone manufacturers have chosen to build products containing ARM-based products… That includes Apple, whose self-designed A4 is rumored to be included in the next iPhone, expected this summer.”
Full article here.