Apple's next generation iPad and iPhone, both due the first half of this year, will pack a new version of the company's custom A4 chip, with dual, faster graphics cores capable of supporting a Retina Display iPad and potentially bringing 1080p HD support to iOS devices, including Apple TV.
Intel and NVIDIA have announced a six-year $1.5 billion cross-licensing agreement that resolves a lengthy patent dispute between the two companies and could lead to close integration of NVIDIA GPUs with Intel's processors.
Apple is opposing a shareholder proposal advocating a CEO succession plan for the company, while the VLC media player iOS app has reportedly been removed from the App Store over a licensing disagreement. Meanwhile, an Intel executive has revealed that his company tried unsuccessfully for a long time to get Microsoft to build a tablet operating system.
Apple is seeking to hire engineers to design a new CPU micro-architecture, expanding upon its acquisitions of two fabless chip design companies and the release of its new A4 application processor used in the iPad and iPhone 4.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced Wednesday that his company has resumed stock buy-backs and won 35 agreements from manufacturers to put its chips into new tablet models, which are set to compete with Apple's iPad next year.
The chief executive at ARM, whose CPU designs are used in Apple's iPad, affirmed the continued growth of the tablet PC market, while dismissing concerns that Intel tablets will pose a competitive threat to the company.
After its transition into an iOS device, Apple TV lost the ability to display iTunes LP and Extras, but support is on the way according to an email attributed to Apple's chief executive.
Intel is currently developing a tool to aid developers in porting iPhone applications to Intel-based devices in hopes of increasing development for and interest in Intel processors.
Apple's cylindrical glass tower entrance to the new underground retail megastore in Shanghai China, set to open mid July, is now decked in red curtains, signaling close proximity to launch.
Imagination Technologies, the mobile graphics chip company of which Apple is part owner, is set to announce a partnership with fellow chipmaker MIPS Technologies in an effort to counter competitor ARM Holdings.
Following a rumor that Apple is looking to buy chipmaker ARM Holdings, the CEO of the Cambridge, England firm said he doesn't see what the benefit would be.
Apple is reportedly interested in acquiring ARM Holdings, the Cambridge England firm that licenses the majority of the world's mobile chip designs.
Apple raised eyebrows during the original iPad unveiling when it casually noted that the new device would be using a new, Apple-designed System on a Chip named the A4. The company's future custom silicon plans are likely to expand even faster following its acquisition of Intrinsity, a privately owned ARM design firm.
As HP attempts to push its own Flash-playing slate PC over the Apple iPad, one ARM executive said he expects more than 50 tablet-style devices to be introduced this year alone.
Though early reports and speculation suggested Apple's custom A4 system-on-a-chip found inside the iPad was based on the more advanced, dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 architecture, one new report says the processor actually "just isn't anything to write home about."
A photograph containing one of Apple's fourth-generation iPhones has been lingering undetected on the web for nearly a week now thanks to having been overshadowed — quite literally — by the company's new iPad, AppleInsider has learned.
Chip designer ARM announced this week new dual core Cortex-A9 processors capable of breaking the 2GHz barrier, perhaps foreshadowing the muscle behind Apple's future mobile devices.
A series of benchmarks have shown that Apple's latest iPhone is so fast that it outpaces not just the older iPhone but Palm's self-proclaimed speed champ, the Pre. Sales are also poised to break speed records as new estimates suggest that Apple will sell significantly more than 500,000 iPhone 3G S units this weekend.
An Intel move to buy mobile software experts Wind River Systems could do more than just give the chip maker a leg up in handheld devices; it could also spark more direct competition between Apple and Intel.
ARM is demonstrating the first working example of a multicore processor that may dramatically speed up smartphones. Meanwhile, Apple is looking for iPhone engineers that can write multithreaded code that may take advantage of ARM's breakthrough.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Josh Ong
AppleInsider Staff
Katie Marsal
Sam Oliver
Kasper Jade
Neil Hughes
