A14 chip photos (one that will be used in smartphones)

Compared to previous chip it is up to 15% faster and up to 30% more energy efficient.

Note that next step will be tiny marketing step called 4nm (same 5nm but with few small changes, same as Global Foundries fake 12nm) and after this it will be quite big pause till fake 3nm and finally 2nm (that will be final industry destination).

More detail from my source

Biggest weight on the scales that forced Apple to use proprietary ARM is to support Taiwanese chips manufacturer during hard days, and also account to simple fact that MacOS based products sales will be banned in China soon (expect 2021 even). Openly using platform from Taiwan and openly declaring Taiwan independence (that Tim Cook can also do in 2021) are nice things to have.

On internal slide Apple expect conflict in Taiwan with around 60% probability, so they have one more manufacturer (not Intel) they work to make their LSI (in case of TSMC issues).

Many Apple engineers are extremely angry

It is rumors inside Apple that management had meeting with both AMD and ARM (future macs) team and it had been super hot.

ARM chips can't compete with modern 6-8 core x86 CPUs, they also have extreme deficiences in many regards as had been made precisely for short wakeup, work and deep sleep.

Only argument that top managemt kept repeating is much better profits as one main LSI (I mean here new upcoming A14x chip) cost Apple around 20-27% of AMD mobile chip cost and less than 10% of top Intel chips cost (as margins are staggering here).

ARM team also had been concerned with Rosetta and made claims, but top managers assured that they'll wipe this app out within 1-2 years with claims that you don't need any x86 apps.

Dangerous moves

As Apple has issues with meeting their profits targets they started discussing idea to use ARM movement to start attack on independent developers. Apple can form up to 20 software teams that will quickly release copies of popular application made by third party developers, aiming mostly at mid size companies who are weak in the legal battles. As Apple can also make stunts like Goolge makes with Antutu it is quikc to gain most of the app users, as their apps can be removed or downgraded using some weirds logic. Apple idea is to make new apps full of their ads and also add subscription based features. Top managemtn love the plan. We can see implementation soon.

Industry rumors are that TSMC having issues with 5nm process, this is why Apple will shift smartphones announcement.

Situation with A14X chip that must be in new Macbooks is even worse, as TSMC will be able to actually make them in volume only in 2021. so, we can have only announcement around November-December with limited amount sent to reviewers.

Apple started testing iPhones with MacOS running on them (actually it is more like modified iOS now)

Idea is to supply expensive dock station to turn it into full fledged Mac to work with monitor, mouse and keyboard.

iPad OS also is merging with MacOS (with iOS being foundation for both).

Rumors are that Apple management want to do one universal app store now and also talk about rising their share during each sale.

"Second line will be using AMD APUs, some models will supply AMD GPUs with them" Hey Vitaliy, what is a AMD APU? Does this mean that Apple might possibly use AMD for their CPU's? That would be interesting but I don't think they would waste their time with AMD CPU's at this point and time. I think they would invest most of their time with the new ARM Processors being that they are already using Intel chips.

@kurth

No, it won't be.

It is no alternatives for iPhone. As you literally can't do much on fully closed hardware/software system.

All soft is signed, OS also and will be stored in special protected place (as SSD is also proprietary).

If you look at the history of iPhone jaibreaks you also notice how tighter and better protection is now.

@kurth

It won't bite them at all, as tens of thousands of paid bloggers and articles will explain how it is major breakthrough in privacy and quality.

Connectivity has nothing to do with it. Check how KMS licensing works or any subscription service like Adobe, here it is same.

Apple plans for OS

In case of some hardware sales slump Apple discussing making OS as subscription service (including iOS, iPad OS and now Mac OS), feature is tested, so if you won't pay for next month it'll offer you special screen and ability to copy your data to attached drive or via Wi-Fi. All other functions will be blocked.

So basically they're selling tablets with keyboard at a price of a notebook marketing them as innovative super cool, super autonomous, super slim and silent laptops. Silencing performance, of course. Apple has always been ingenious when it comes to creating cult out of ordinary things.

Mobile CPUs die sizes

Apple hope that up to 70% of developers will stop making applications. This was main reason behind new container format, as for small firms and individual developers supporting 2 different versions is very hard financially (add here that it will be much more as Apple plans to significantly change their chips with each generation).

Also around 35-50% of developers now are using hackintosh machines for all development and debugging, Apple move to ARM will require them to purchase top of the line Apple products adding significant expenses.

You can ask - why it is good for Apple, as for users it is certanly bad? issue is that Apple need to improve profits, and this is why main attack is on small / medium size developers (Apple and their partners software will be replacements) and also same attack on independent hardware service that is going on during last 7-10 months.