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Seems like backward compatibility completely rules this out. Apple can provide tools and clear migration paths because the chips are only used in their systems.

Seems like backward compatibility completely rules this out. Apple can provide tools and clear migration paths because the chips are only used in their systems. Intel chips are used everywhere, and Intel has no visibility.

est31 6y ago
I wonder if in 3 or 4 years there will be a new chipmaker startup which offers CPUs to the market similar to the M1. If Intel or AMD won't do it that is.
- simonh 6y ago
  Qualcomm could come out with an M1 class chip, they have the engineering capability, but if Microsoft or Google don’t adopt it with a custom tuned OS and dev tooling customised for that specific architecture ready from day one, they’d lose a fortune. The same goes in the other direction. If MS does all the work on ARM windows optimised for one vendor’s experimental chip and the chip vendor messes up or pulls out, they’d be shived. It’s too much risk for a company on either side of the table to wear on their own.
  - fomine3 6y ago
    Sadly Qualcomm won't develop own CPU core anymore since ARMv8 transition. Samsung stopped developing own core. So only ARM's code design is available for mobile.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  The problems is competing with the size of Apple (and Intel and AMD). The reason there are so few competing high performance chips on the market is, that it is extremely expensive to design one. And you need a fab with a current process. For many years Intel beat all other companies, because they had the best fabs ans could affort the most R&D. Now Apple has the best fab - TSMCs 5nm - and certainly gigantic developer resources they can afford to spend as the chip design is pretty similar between the iPhones iPads and the Macs. And of course, as mentioned in the article, any feature in the Apple Silicon will be supported by MacOS. Getting OS support for your new SOC features in other OSes is not a given.

est31 6y ago

I wonder if in 3 or 4 years there will be a new chipmaker startup which offers CPUs to the market similar to the M1. If Intel or AMD won't do it that is.

simonh 6y ago
Qualcomm could come out with an M1 class chip, they have the engineering capability, but if Microsoft or Google don’t adopt it with a custom tuned OS and dev tooling customised for that specific architecture ready from day one, they’d lose a fortune. The same goes in the other direction. If MS does all the work on ARM windows optimised for one vendor’s experimental chip and the chip vendor messes up or pulls out, they’d be shived. It’s too much risk for a company on either side of the table to wear on their own.
- fomine3 6y ago
  Sadly Qualcomm won't develop own CPU core anymore since ARMv8 transition. Samsung stopped developing own core. So only ARM's code design is available for mobile.
_ph_ 6y ago
The problems is competing with the size of Apple (and Intel and AMD). The reason there are so few competing high performance chips on the market is, that it is extremely expensive to design one. And you need a fab with a current process. For many years Intel beat all other companies, because they had the best fabs ans could affort the most R&D. Now Apple has the best fab - TSMCs 5nm - and certainly gigantic developer resources they can afford to spend as the chip design is pretty similar between the iPhones iPads and the Macs. And of course, as mentioned in the article, any feature in the Apple Silicon will be supported by MacOS. Getting OS support for your new SOC features in other OSes is not a given.