Are Apple’s in-house chip designs really better?
A New York Times report on Apple’s A4 chip, a custom-designed piece of silicon that powers the company’s new iPad tablet displays, is surprisingly negative on whether Apple gets any benefit from designing custom chips to go with its custom software. Here’s a boil-down of the negatives from the article: The do-it-yourself approach gives Apple the chance to build faster, more battery-friendly products than rivals and helps the company to keep product development secret. But designing its own processors burdens Apple with additional engineering costs and potential product delays. It also forces the company to hire — and retain — experienced chip designers. Several who joined the company in 2008 after an acquisition have already left for a secretive start-up. Though chip industry experts have yet to put the iPad through their customary rigorous tests, Apple’s demonstrations left them underwhelmed
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Are Apple’s in-house chip designs really better?
