Apple will reportedly design its own power management chips (archive) for new iPhones within 1-2 years. The news sent shares of Dialog Semiconductor plummeting:
Apple's long-term plans to cut dependence on suppliers to boost its semiconductor capabilities have been widely-flagged as it consolidates its production chain to better compete with its rivals. But these plans may have claimed a victim, with Dialog shares down 19.16% soon after these exclusive plans were revealed on Nikkei Asian Review. They were down 17.58% at 13:59GMT.
The main power management chip controls an iPhone's charging function, battery management, and energy consumption. "Based on Apple's current plan, they are set to replace partially, or around half of its power management chips to go into iPhones by itself starting next year," said the source. Another person said Apple was indeed developing its own power management chips for iPhones but the time frame was less certain and could be delayed to 2019.
Apple's main power management chips for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch are now exclusively designed and made by Dialog, according to Credit Suisse. Apple accounted for 74% of Dialog's revenue in 2016. Power management chips are one of the most crucial and expensive components after core processors, modems and memory chips.
Also at Bloomberg and The Verge.
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Apple plans to put custom processors inside at least three more Macs by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg. There are no details on what the chips will be used for, but the report says they'll appear in updated laptops and a new desktop.
Though Apple has been making custom chips for its phones, tablets, and wearables for years now, the company is only just starting to bring its house-made chips to the Mac. That started in a small way in 2016 with the high-end MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which included a chip that was used to run the Touch Bar and Touch ID. Then last month, Apple included a custom chip inside the iMac Pro that handled, among other things, audio, camera processing, and encryption.
The Bloomberg article includes a detailed history of Apple's chip designs.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Saturday December 02 2017, @12:47PM (7 children)
Power Management IC. Programming it was dirt simple. As a software guy I can't tell you if it's easy or hard to design from a hardware standpoint.
What's cool about it is it has several independent power supplies in it (number varies based on the model). Don't need the display? Turn it off. Don't need the radio? Turn it off. Don't need the CPU? Turn it off.
The power button was wired to the PMIC, when you activate the phone the PMIC fires up the CPU. The PMIC also had a programmable timer to wake the phone up every n milliseconds for the whole "Hey base station, got anything for me?" routine.
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 02 2017, @12:58PM (4 children)
If you're suggesting that Apple switch to a Qualcomm power management solution: Apple is currently in the process of switching away from Qualcomm components and both companies are suing each other. Qualcomm asked for an injunction [bgr.com] preventing the sale of iPhones (X and 8) not containing their modem.
That situation has led to some funny stuff like this story I'll probably submit:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/357671/exclusive-qualcomms-iphone-x-still-outpaces-intels [pcmag.com]
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(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday December 02 2017, @02:29PM (3 children)
My bad. I assume they're using the Qualcomm PMIC now and want to get away from it.
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 02 2017, @02:32PM (2 children)
Umm... the summary says:
(as in Dialog Semiconductor)
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 02 2017, @08:00PM (1 child)
With 74% of Dialog's output dedicated to Apple, it would have been cheaper for Apple to just buy the company and it's patents, and then tweak the design a bit to get what ever it is that they aren't getting from Dialog.
It also says that Dialog hasn't got the capacity to service any other big players. And/Or that their shit isn't very good and nobody else wants it. (Its always the Iphone users hogging all the outlets in any public space).
But knowing Apple, they already specified much of the design to Dialog. (When you have one big customer, you pretty much do exactly as they wish. So whatever Apple doesn't like about the Dialog chips is more than likely already Apple's own damn fault.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 03 2017, @03:26AM
> it would have been cheaper for Apple to just buy the company and it's patents,...
It's even cheaper now, since TFA claims "Dialog shares down 19.16%". Not that Apple is short on cash, but everyone likes to buy things on sale, amirite?
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Saturday December 02 2017, @10:46PM (1 child)
Here's the thing about Apple. If you know OS X / MacOS, you may be familiar with the debacle that is "App Nap", which is pretty much guaranteed to break almost anything you run that does real-time work. I have had to tell my users hundreds times, turn App Nap off, and then of course I have to explain how. It's so badly implemented. Ugh.
Apple is clueless when it comes to what should be running on a particular user's computer in software. I have no faith at all that they would get a hardware power controller right either. Especially after the "trashcan" Mac Pro, an Apple hardware debacle. Again, ugh.
Sometimes the things they do - like "App Nap" - are so stupidly implemented I am just left speechless. Luckily, I can still type. :)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 03 2017, @01:31AM
Was there a problem with it other than that its appearance was ridiculed? Such as ergonomics or overheating?
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