Apple might dump Intel chips
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Intel will be gone from inside Macs by 2020, replaced by custom Apple silicon, claims a report by Bloomberg.
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According to the report, Apple has kicked off an internal project, codenamed Kalamata, with the goal "to make all of Apple's devices -- including Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- work more similarly and seamlessly together."
Macs hold a unique place in the Apple hardware line up to not use processors designed by Apple and based on ARM technology. Breaking free of Intel would, according to Bloomberg, "let Apple release new models on its own timelines, instead of relying on Intel's processor roadmap."
Bloomberg supply chain analysis suggests that Apple accounts for about 5 percent of Intel's annual revenue.
Bloomberg notes this would require a "multi-step transition," beginning as early as 2020.
The report caused Intel shares to fall by over 9 percent, the biggest intraday drop in over two years.
Read also: Intel just unveiled its most powerful laptop chip yet
This report builds on earlier claims that Apple is working on a plan to unify iPhone, iPad, and macOS apps under a project codenamed Marzipan, and that the first part of this unification could be unveiled this year, perhaps at WWDC 2018, which will be held in June.
Apple switched from Freescale PowerPC processors to Intel chips in 2006, and it removed support for PowerPC from the Mac S with OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard."
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