Word on the street has it that Apple might just issue Intel with a stop work order when it comes to supplying Cupertino with processors for their range of laptops. It might not be soon, but some sources claim that it is more or less a done deal. It seems that Apple intends to migrate their laptop and desktop range to ARM-based chips, the sooner th e better. After all, with the A15/Eagle, it will free up more room compared to 32-bit memory access.
At this moment, Apple is able to make the switch to ARM without having to worry about ending up with obsolete code with an ISA which is on the cusp of changing, and there are no memory overhead worries to lose nights of sleep over as well.
Could this be the reason that Apple is looking for fab capacity from a variety of players in the market, including Samsung, TSMC and Global Foundries? Intel does not seem to be aware of this turnabout just yet, and it will be interesting to see just how their working relationship evolves when they find out the full details.
To make things short, x86 architecture on Apple laptops will last for another 2 or 3 years, tops, and Apple processors will take over from there. What do you think of this piece of information – does it fall under the rumor category?