Apple GPU vendor Imagination buys MIPS, ARM licenses patents: "Apple secretly licensed advanced PowerVR GPU technology from Imagination in 2008, back when the company was expected to be using Intel's Silverthorne (now called Atom) chips for its anticipated new tablet. "

Ah MIPS, how we miss thee.

Labels: arm, mips

ARM-based Macs seen as 'inevitable,' but Apple unlikely to switch anytime soon: "Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said in a note to investors on Tuesday that he believes it will take Apple some time to optimize its Mac OS X operating system for the ARM processors currently found in the iPad and iPhone."

Another view of the subject matter.

Labels: arm, intel

Will Apple Switch the Mac to ARM? Why Rumors Do, and Don't, Ring True. - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD: "Apple’s last shift in chip technology happened during 2005 and 2006, when it pivoted away from the old IBM-made PowerPC architecture and instead embraced Intel’s processors, which already run inside most of the world’s personal computers."

I think this would be a relatively easy transition except for the emulation layer.

Labels: arm, intel

ARM announces 64-bit Cortex-A50 mobile processors coming in 2014: "ARM on Tuesday unveiled new its next-generation of high-performance, power sipping 64-bit chips — CPUs that could power future devices from companies like Apple as soon as 2014."

It's so clear that to get into the smaller form factors like the iPad you need ultra low-power chips. But low power ain't what it used to be. The iPad 2 is fast. In fact, Safari seems faster on the iPad than on a CoreDuo MacBook. Feature bloat is probably why.

Labels: arm

Apple's new A6 iPhone 5 appears to be first ARM Cortex A15 phone: "According to a report by Anand Lal Shimpi of Anandtech, the performance gains Apple reported for the new A6 chip and other factors means that 'it looks like Apple has integrated two ARM Cortex A15 cores on Samsung's 32nm LP HK+MG process.'

The site added, 'This is a huge deal because it means Apple beat both TI and Samsung on bringing A15s to market.'"

Hard to see an Intel in Apple's longterm future.

Labels: apple, arm, intel

iPhone Hello World Native App

- (void) applicationDidFinishLaunching: (id) unused
{
UIWindow *window;

window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithContentRect: [UIHardware
fullScreenApplicationContentRect]];

pbCell = [[UIImageAndTextTableCell alloc] init];
[pbCell setTitle: @"Hello world!\n"];

UIPushButton *button = [[UIThreePartButton alloc] initWithTitle:
@"Touch Me"];
buttonCell = [[UITableCell alloc] init];
[buttonCell addSubview: button];
[button sizeToFit];

UITable *table = [[UITable alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(0.0f, 48.0f,
320.0f, 480.0f - 16.0f - 32.0f)];
UITableColumn *col = [[UITableColumn alloc] initWithTitle: @"HelloApp"
identifier: @"hello" width: 320.0f];

[window orderFront: self];
[window makeKey: self];
[window _setHidden: NO];

[table addTableColumn: col];
[table setDataSource: self];
[table setDelegate: self];
[table reloadData];

UINavigationBar *nav = [[UINavigationBar alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(
0.0f, 0.0f, 320.0f, 48.0f)];
[nav showButtonsWithLeftTitle: @"Foo" rightTitle: @"Bar" leftBack: YES];
[nav setBarStyle: 0];

struct CGRect rect = [UIHardware fullScreenApplicationContentRect];
rect.origin.x = rect.origin.y = 0.0f;
UIView *mainView;
mainView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: rect];
[mainView addSubview: nav];
[mainView addSubview: table];

[window setContentView: mainView];
}

Labels: arm, cocoa, iphone