by Jason Snell
Bloomberg: Apple to use its own chips in Macs from 2020
Mark Gurman and Ian King for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the plans.
The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices — including Macs, iPhones, and iPads — work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.
I’m still processing this one, but it does seem inevitable, doesn’t it? My gut feeling is that this isn’t the whole story—that this is one part of a much larger process that unifies Apple’s platforms to some degree or other. The Mac might even end up as a superset of iOS, with support for iOS apps but also some other stuff beyond what we think of as iOS today. Or perhaps iOS becomes more capable as well. In the long run, I think Apple’s better off with one main consumer operating system and probably one base set of hardware that it designs and controls. It’s looking like Apple thinks that, too.