Reuters reports that Apple has been in talks with Intel to manufacture Apple’s A series chips. Yup, you heard me right, kind of unbelievable, but one of the key factors that may be driving Apple in Intel’s direction would be to further reduce its dependence on Samsung, which currently manufactures its A series chips that powers the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV.
Apple has already taken steps to reduce its reliance on Samsung with A6 system-on-chip. Apple did not work with the Korean company on the development of its new A6 processor, which powers iPhone 5 and simply uses them as a foundry to manufacture the chip. Samsung had contributed to the design and development of processors used in previous generation iPhones. So the next logical step seems to be to also move manufacturing to another foundry operator like Intel. Apple already has a good relationship with Intel, as it uses Intel chips in Mac family of products.
Please note that this doesn’t mean we will see an Intel inside our iOS devices in the near future, it only means that the chips will be manufactured by Intel’s foundaries based on the specifications provided by Apple.
The report notes that the two companies have been in talks for the past year, but haven’t reached an agreement so far.
There have also been rumors that Apple has signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer for the production of A7 quad-core processors that could be used in iOS devices in 2014.
The rift between Samsung and Apple has already extended to other components, as Apple has reduced memory chip – both dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips and NAND memory chips orders to Samsung for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that the patent war in the court rooms around the world is contributing to the meltdown in the partnership.
Via Reuters
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