“There can be no doubt Apple is working on a low-power, mobile processor of its own. It acquired chip designer PA Semi early last year. And just last month, the Cupertino, Calif., company advertised for engineers familiar with the NEON extended instruction set used by next-generation ARM processors,” Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes.
“Wall Street analysts, however, say it’s unlikely that whatever wonder processor Apple is working on will be ready in time for a new iPhone, which they’re betting could debut as early as June 8 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco,” Caulfield reports.
“Instead, mobile industry analysts say Apple will most likely turn to a faster version of the application processor it now buys from Samsung if it opts for a speedier processor for the iPhone,” Caulfield reports. “Such a shift could speed up the thousands of third-party applications already distributed for the iPhone via Apple’s App Store.”
“That could buy time for Apple to finish work on something potentially much more radical. Such a processor would be based on the work of the team it inherited when it acquired PA Semi for $278 million… The payoff, however, could be big. The iPhone currently relies on an application processor with a single core… While it is unlikely Apple will announce next week a product based on its own processors, the company may soon begin dropping subtle hints on its developers,” Caulfield reports.
Full article here.
