Confirmation of Apple’s own 5G modems coming soon, Microsoft brings X 86 Emulation to Windows on Arm PCs & Former Apple Designer Jony Ive to head up Ferrari?
Let me know in the comments which of these stories interests you the most! 1, 2 or 3?
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Confirmation of Apple’s own 5G modems coming soon
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Technology Johny Srouji said at an Apple Virtual meeting hosted by Tim Cook last week that they had “kicked off the development of their first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition,” likening it to the transition to Apple Silicon which began publicly at WWDC in June with the first Apple Silicon Macs shipping this past November.
Currently Apple sources their modems from Qualcomm, and reports say that almost $150 of the cost price of iPhone 12 models comes from the cellular, so being able to develop these in house would be a huge win for Apple. They purchased Intel’s modem business recently and having seen how their Apple Silicon SOCs have performed compared to the market, this could be another area that Apple could make some great gains. Also the reported cost price of an A14 SOC is around $40, so assuming the costs of producing the modem devices isn’t strangely high, Apple may well make large savings in this area. On the news emerging, Qualcomm’s stock dipped 6.8% as around 11% of their revenues currently come from Apple.
I strongly believe Apple is trying to bring production and design of all their devices and components in house in the longer term, so look out for them potentially acquiring a display manufacturer, and I still think that Apple Acquiring TSMC would be a really amazing move for them. It also adds weight to the rumours that Apple may be looking to add 5G support to future portable Macs as well as iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch which currently have cellular connections.
Microsoft brings X64 Emulation to Windows on Arm PCs
Microsoft has announced the first preview of x64 emulation for Windows Insiders on ARM PCs, which allows Surface Pro X to install apps that haven’t been ported to Arm64. While Microsofts previous emulation efforts have been less than stellar, this development allows users to install 64 bit applications from the Windows store where only 32 bit x86 versions were previously available.
Why does this matter on an Apple channel? Well since HairForce One, Craig Federighi mentioned that Apple’s M1 Macs are fully capable of running the Windows on Arm software as soon as Microsoft gets around to it, there has been a lot of interest around what that would mean with Windows on Arm having not been the most amazing experience in the past. If nothing else, this suggests Microsoft is still actively pursuing the version, which means if it does eventually get official support for Apple Silicon, it will actually have some apps worth running.
Of course, ingenious users have already managed to get Windows on Arm running on M1 in QEMU virtualisation, but more widespread adoption may well come if Microsoft supports it officially, though for now its only licensed to run on their own hardware.
Former Apple Designer to head up Ferrari?
Aluminium Fan Jony Ive is reportedly shortlisted as a possible new CEO for Italian car maker Ferrari, following the departure of the previous CEO Louis Camilleri who unexpectedly retired on Thursday.
According to Italian media, Apple’s current Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri is also in the running for the top role, alongside bevel enthusiast Sir Jony Ive who left Apple in 2019 to form his own design firm “LoveFrom” with friend and industrial design legend Marc Newsom, while keeping Apple as one of his clients.
Apple Senior Vice President of Internet software and services Eddie Cue already sits on the board of directors at Ferrari and has been there since 2012, so both Apple picks would have an ally already in place were they to take on the role.
It would be interesting to see what Ive would come up with at Ferrari were it to go ahead, while Jony Ive’s Apple designs were famed for its restraint and understated elegance, restraint and understated are not exactly words that we normally associate with Ferrari’s vehicles. Perhaps he’ll bring a small and practical Ferrari SE to the table?
