Stuff

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    What's Hot
    Eskom Strike electricity

    Higher electricity connection fees in South Africa? A good, and necessary, next step

    August 12, 2022
    Ghost Robotics Main

    Ghost Robotics’ unmanned dog-bots may soon patrol Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

    August 11, 2022

    The Red Bull Campus Clutch esports tournament returns for 2022

    August 11, 2022
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud
    Trending
    • Higher electricity connection fees in South Africa? A good, and necessary, next step
    • Ghost Robotics’ unmanned dog-bots may soon patrol Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
    • The Red Bull Campus Clutch esports tournament returns for 2022
    • The Canon EOS R5 is a Prime candidate for a Transformers upgrade
    • SA schools to receive updated tech-focused curriculum
    • Know when to Fold ’em? – Our first look at Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 4
    • Blockchain-based certificates. Legitimate qualifications.
    • Disney+ is raising prices in the U.S – what that could mean for us
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    StuffStuff
    • News
      • App News
      • Business News
      • Camera News
      • Gaming News
      • Headphone News
      • Industry News
      • Internet News
      • Laptops News
      • Motoring News
      • Other Tech News
      • Phone News
      • Tablet News
      • Technology News
      • TV News
      • Wearables News
    • Reviews
      • Camera Reviews
      • Car Reviews
      • Featured Reviews
      • Game Reviews
      • Headphone Reviews
      • Laptop Reviews
      • Other Tech Reviews
      • Phone Reviews
      • Tablet Reviews
      • Wearables Reviews
    • Columns
    • Stuff Guides
    • Podcasts & Videos
      • Videos
      • Stuffed
      • Stuffing Around
      • Tech Byte
      • T2S2
    • Win
    • Subscribe
      • Print
      • Digital
        • Google Play
        • iTunes
        • Download
        • Zinio
    • Stuff Shop
      • Shop Now
      • My Account
      • Downloads
    • Contact Us
      • Get In Touch
      • Advertise
    0 Shopping Cart
    Stuff
    Home » Columns » Apple’s bold Intel-less future
    Columns

    Apple’s bold Intel-less future

    Toby ShapshakBy Toby ShapshakNovember 15, 2020Updated:October 1, 2021No Comments4 Mins Read
    Apple buys loads of companies
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    This may be the crucial moment in history when the age of the desktop computer is truly replaced by the age of mobile.

    On Tuesday night, without much surprise, Apple announced its new laptop line-up proudly running on its own Apple Silicon processors. The new range of M1 chips are faster, more powerful, use less electricity, and everything else promised in an Apple launch event, where hyperbole is as essential as tech specs.

    Notably, the M1 processors are based on the mobile chips that power the iPhone and iPad ranges. For a long time, it’s been unfolding before our eyes that mobile is eating the world. This industry adage aptly describes how the new technologies (wireless broadband, portability, more powerful smartphones and apps) have usurped the older, traditional ones (desktop computers, dial-up and ADSL). Spawned by the desktop era of Intel chips powering Windows computers, mobile is now dominated by Qualcomm chips, based on the mobile ARM architecture, and Google’s Android software. Microsoft canned its hardware ambitions, even after buying Nokia, and has focused on its cloud, gaming and apps businesses. And Apple, the mighty serial pioneer, has ditched Intel.

    There is a much more powerful backdrop to this seismic change in the computer industry, as Intel itself is struggling to compete in the semiconductor space.

    The shock announcement in June that Apple was abandoning Intel’s chips sent the chipmaker’s shares plummeting. This was exacerbated by Intel’s own revelations that it might outsource manufacturing to third-party factories. Intel, the great beast at the heart of the desktop PC revolution, is a largely spent force.

    But it wasn’t so when Steve Jobs returned as CEO in 1998. One of the most strategic things he did was switch to Intel in 2005.

    It was a masterstroke. Apple’s biggest problem back then was a lack of software programs, as they were known before the iPhone turned everything into just plain “app”. Processors are the brains of the computer, and have a very particular architecture. The Intel chips used by Windows computers in the early 2000s were vastly different to those used by Apple. They proved a barrier to entry for developers because Apple’s 5% of global market share didn’t justify the development. But Job’s switch to Intel chips reduced the workload for developers to convert their software to run on Mac operating systems.

    It very quickly ramped up the programs available for the Macs, at the time Jobs had reinvented the company as a media hub with the iPod and iTunes. It gave a fresh lease on life to the original product line that made Apple what it is today, the first Trillion Dollar and first Two Trillion Dollar company in the world.

    Meanwhile, poor Intel. Rarely are the kings of one era the kings of the next.

    But Apple, that wily Prince Lancelot, has expertly managed its transitions between the power players of these eras, including the personal computer age it created itself.

    And now, off the back of the device that it unveiled in 2007 and which has propelled its stratospheric profits and share surges, it is reinventing that PC again. This time with its own chips.

    There are immediate advantages for Apple. The most pressing, and which caused the break-up of the 15-year Intel relationship, was the slow pace of Intel’s multiyear chip production process. Apple has been churning out a new processor every year since it began using its own silicon, which was initially made by Samsung. Now it can bring that pace to its original computer range, starting with the new MacBook Air, Pro and Mac Mini announced this week.

    Additionally, and in a cruel ironic twist, it means an instant, and massive, install base of available apps: Because everything that can run on an iPhone (which uses iOS) and the new iPad Pros (iPadOS) will now work on the new M1-running Macs and the new Big Sur operating system (MacOS).

    It is a clever consolidation of the various ranges of technology Apple uses, which all tie very neatly back into its expanded services offerings. These include the App Store, iTunes, the new Arcade gaming subscription services and Apple TV; as well as a combination using Apple One group subscription. Such offerings, including paying for iCloud hosting, is pushing up this service revenue, which is growing at a healthy click.

    Sounds a little like Amazon Prime, but without the free delivery.

    By offering compelling content (from its own TV shows to music), apps and gaming, Apple is trying to keep its users consuming inside its walled garden. In Apple’s case, this garden comes with its own hardware.

    It is ultimately a further sign that mobile is eating the world. Perhaps, even, ate the world.

    Apple Arm-based featured processor
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
    Toby Shapshak

    Toby Shapshak is editor-in-chief and publisher of Stuff, a Forbes contributor and a Financial Mail columnist. He has been writing about technology and the internet for 20 years and his TED Global talk on innovation in Africa has over 1,5-million views. He has written about Africa's tech and start-up ecosystem for Forbes, CNN and The Guardian in London. He was named in GQ's top 30 men in media and the Mail & Guardian newspaper's influential young South Africans. He has been featured in the New York Times. GQ said he "has become the most high-profile technology journalist in the country" while the M&G wrote: "Toby Shapshak is all things tech... he reigns supreme as the major talking head for everything and anything tech."

    Related Posts

    Eskom electricity

    Eskom has discovered batteries

    August 9, 2022
    MacBook Pro 2016

    Apple’s first Touch Bar MacBook Pro is officially classified as vintage, as are either other devices

    August 4, 2022
    Eskom load shedding

    ‘No way to prevent this,’ says only nation where this regularly happens

    August 3, 2022

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    In The Mag
    Stuff August-September 2022 Latest Issue

    In This Issue – The Women in Tech (August-September 2022) Issue

    By Brett VenterAugust 1, 20220

    August is a pretty special month. It’s the host of International Women’s Day and is…

    2021 Wish List
    wish list Stuff Wish List 2021

    Stuff Wish List: for the tech impaired

    By Duncan PikeDecember 22, 20210

    Are you from the time before being glued to a smartphone was considered normal? Here’s…

    Wishlist DIY Stuff tech

    Stuff Wish List: for the DIY Diehard

    December 21, 2021
    Wish List Gearhead

    Stuff Wish List: For the petrol-soaked gearhead

    December 20, 2021
    outsiders

    Stuff Wish List: for the Outsiders

    December 17, 2021

    Latest Video

    Sonos

    SONOS Roam SL unboxing by Toby Shapshak

    Mini Cooper

    The Mini Cooper SE Electric with Toby Shapshak

    MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

    MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

    Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing

    Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra unboxing with Toby Shapshak

    Contact

    South Africa's Consumer Tech News Hub

    General: stuff@stuff.co.za
    Subscriptions: stuff@onthedot.co.za or 087 353 1291
    Editorial: 072 735 2614
    Sales: 083 375 2418

    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud

    Subscribe to Updates

    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy & POPI
    • My account
    © 2022 Stuff Group. Designed by Chronon.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.