“Shares of Dialog Semiconductor declined by about 35% after a report in Nikkei Asian Review indicated that its largest customer, Apple , could start using its own power management chips beginning as early as next year. Dialog currently designs these chips for Apple’s iPhone. While there hasn’t been an announcement or any concrete evidence that Apple is shifting to its own power management chips, there is clearly a lot at stake for Dialog, given that Apple accounted for about 74% of its sales in 2016,” Great Speculations writes for Forbes. “Moreover, there has been a trend of Apple increasingly designing its own chips. A few months ago, UK-based semiconductor company Imagination Technologies was sold to a private equity firm after Apple said it would stop using the company’s mobile graphics chips.”
“The company’s in-house chip design team currently develops its A-series application processors, the bionic neural engine chip that handles facial, image and speech recognition as well as the wireless chips used in its audio products such as Airpods and Beats headphone,” G.S. writes. “Battery life remains an area where progress has been relatively stagnant for years. The power management chips on smartphones control charging, battery management, and the overall energy consumption of the device, and Apple could add value by integrating its proprietary hardware and software, which could allow phones to handle tasks more efficiently.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Vertical integration wins yet again.
With each passing year, and especially with iPhone X, it becomes increasingly clear – even to the Android settlers – that the competition has no chance of even remotely keeping up against Apple’s unmatched vertically integrated one-two punch of custom software and custom hardware. The Android to iPhone upgrade train just turned onto a long straightaway, engines stoked, primed to barrel away! — MacDailyNews, September 13, 2017
• I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do. — Steve Jobs, October 12, 2004
• In order to build the best products, you have to own the primary technologies. Steve felt that if Apple could do that — make great products and great tools for people — they in turn would do great things. He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 18, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Apple ships more microprocessors than Intel – October 2, 2017
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple’s TrueDepth camera system puts iPhone X years ahead of Android competition – October 2, 2017
iPhone 8’s Apple A11 Bionic chip so destroys Android phones that Geekbench creator can’t even believe it – September 30, 2017
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