Based on my understanding of the issue, the main difference between now and then is scale. Pre-iPhone, Apple didn't have the scale to make their own chips econo

Based on my understanding of the issue, the main difference between now and then is scale. Pre-iPhone, Apple didn't have the scale to make their own chips economically; now, with the massive success of the iPhone, they're able to do this. Their major value proposition is that they're able to build software-differentiated hardware, so building their own chips is extremely valuable to them.