Is Apple about to shift CPU architectures from Intel to ARM?

Microprocessor analyst Jim Turley believes that Apple is on the cusp of shifting its PC and laptop microprocessor architecture from standard Intel to home-grown ARM-based chips.

Turley has suggested that Apple is preparing such a shift after chewing over some of the discussions at Apple's recent Worldwide Developers' Conference.

Writing in Electronic Engineering Journal, he said: "One of the many things to come out of Apple's recent Worldwide Developers' Conference last week was an almost off-hand discussion of something called bitcode. It's an intermediate software format, neither source code nor binary code. And its existence suggests that Apple is getting ready to change its microprocessor architecture. Otherwise, what's the point?"

It is not the first time that a company has used bitcode in a bid to make applications hardware-independent, he continued, and it is not even the first time that Apple has done so. "But it does suggest that the Cupertino firm is about to make a change to its CPU architecture, its operating systems, or both," he suggested.

Rumours have circulated for years that Apple wants to relieve itself from its dependence on Intel for its laptops, PCs and workstations, and to standardise on ARM, given the popularity of its mobile devices.

It acquired PA Semiconductor in April 2008 to deepen its ARM design capabilities, and became the first major device manufacturer to adopt 64-bit when it launched the iPhone 5s in September 2013. For its PC range, it shifted from Motorola PowerPC microprocessors to Intel only in 2006 and 2007.

Apple's renewed interest in bitcode, wrote Turley, would help Apple to harmonise operating systems across its Mac and mobile devices by enabling them to run the same apps or, at least, to use similar APIs.

"Apple is one of only a handful of companies to hold an "architectural licence" to the ARM microprocessor architecture, meaning it can design its own ARM chps from scratch, not just incorporate ARM's existing CPU cores. That could allow Apple to create special ARM-based chips with special accelerators, co-processorss, or other unique features," he said.

Furthermore, because Apple is able to exert such a tight control of its own software eco-system, particularly on mobile devices, "Apple is in a unique position to modify those apps before they're installed", he continued.

"An app purchased for an iPad could be modified to suit its characteristics versus, say, a Mac or a Watch. If future iPads use a different processor than current models, the app could be tweaked again, all at the time of purchase," he concluded.

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