This rumor has been floating around for 5 years now and the date keeps getting pushed back. I’m on the fence on this. On one hand, Apple can reduce its COGS, and perhaps the incremental cost is low to develop a true desktop-class processor when they have the best phone and tablet processor. And, it is consistent with the Apple’s philosophy of absolute control.<p>However, this seems like the external signs of empire building by the internal CPU team, like the touch bar for what I can only assume was the display team. Unlike the mobile space, the laptop and desktop space has two competitive and highly competent companies selling parts.
>>> The report does say that one of the chips Apple is developing will be "much faster" than those used in the iPhone or iPad, though they will not yet be sufficient to replace the fastest Intel chips in the MacBook Pro or Mac Pro<p>Is it possible that Apple will include both Intel x86 as well as AX processors? Let the A chip handle certain tasks that are low power to be energy efficient and the Intel chip handle everything else? They did something similar with the Touch Bar.
My guess is that all "Pro" hardware will stick with Intel for the foreseeable future (both because of performance and software compatibility), but everything else will switch to custom ARM chips.