Apple to design its own CPU for iPhone and iPod

Do you remember the acquisition of chip designer P.A. Semiconductor by Apple a while ago? After announcing the 3G version of the iPhone at the opening speech of WWDC, Jobs revealed again: "P.A. Semiconductor will design SoC (System on Chip) chips for the iPhone and iPod." This finally put an end to speculations from all quarters regarding the purpose of Apple's acquisition of the company.

Samsung has been providing processors for Apple all along. Due to Intel's close relationship with Apple computers and its recent promotion of the Atom processor, many people assumed that the next generation of iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs would use Intel Atom CPUs. In April, Apple spent $278 million to acquire P.A. Semi, a small-scale fabless semiconductor design company. At that time, Apple announced to the public that this move was not for any of P.A. Semiconductor's current products, but rather to obtain the company's processor R&D team. Now, the ultimate goal of this move has finally come to light.

After acquiring P.A. Semiconductor's processor R&D team, Apple will have greater freedom in future iPhones and iPods. Developers can request chip designers to implement the required functions in the processor. And since it is almost impossible for Apple to sell its self-developed processors to the outside world, it ensures that future iPhones and iPods are likely to have exclusive features leading the industry.