“In a video introducing the iPhone X, Apple design chief Jony Ive speaks in his usual sonorous tones about features like polished stainless steel and new formulations of glass,” Tom Simonite reports for Wired. “Twice, he also calls out a feature of the $999 device that its owners will never see: the A11 ‘bionic’ processor powering the phone.”
“The new chip’s prominence reflects Apple’s deepening investment in chip design. Last week the company also revealed it had built new custom chips or chip components for artificial intelligence, graphics, and video,” Simonite reports. “Computer and gadget makers have traditionally outsourced the work of designing and making the processors at the heart of their products. In the PC era, Apple followed this path as well: The processors in its Macintosh computers were initially built by Motorola, and later by Intel. In smartphones, however, industry watchers say Apple’s strategy of designing chips itself has given it a big advantage—and arguably made its mobile chips the best on the planet.”
“Apple’s rivals love to take inspiration from the iPhone, but they can’t easily copy its chip strategy,” Simonite reports. “Samsung’s Exynos processors must be designed to serve other customers, too. In addition, the company doesn’t control Google’s Android operating system that powers its phones, so it can’t tightly integrate chip designs and software. Similar limitations apply to Qualcomm.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As usual, nobody can compete with Apple.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s A11 Bionic chip is by far the highest-performing system on the market; totally destroys Android phones – September 19, 2017
Apple’s A11 Bionic chip in iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X leaves Android phones choking in the dust – September 18, 2017
The inside story of Apple’s amazing A11 Bionic chip – September 18, 2017
Apple’s A11 Bionic obliterates top chips from Qualcomm, Samsung and Huawei – September 18, 2017
Apple accelerates mobile processor dominance with A11 Bionic; benchmarks faster than 13-inch MacBook Pro – September 15, 2017
Apple’s A11 Bionic chip in iPhone X and iPhone 8/Plus on par with 2017 MacBook Pro – September 14, 2017
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]