Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for ZDNet:
Intel has been stuck in a bit of a quagmire as of late. It’s 10-nanometer processors have experienced delays, while the CEO admits that it won’t have 7-nanometer parts to compete with AMD out until 2021.
I wonder how Apple – one of Intel’s flagship customers – feels about this.
Not only does AMD have 7-nanometer chips out there, but they’re performance powerhouses. And on top of that, the small architecture makes them power-efficient and run cooler than similar chips built using larger architectures.
AMD chips sound exactly like what Apple needs for its lineup of mobile and desktop computers… I know that there’s a fair bit of chatter that Apple is planning to move to in-house chips, but in the meantime, Apple needs processors — some 5 million or so a quarter — and AMD’s 7-nanometer offerings offer benefits that Intel can’t match for a couple of upgrade cycles.
MacDailyNews Take: Unless there’s some sort of contractual issue with Intel, we don’t know why Apple hasn’t already offered Macs with AMD processors, as a BTO choice at least.