Apple has more than a thousand engineers working on mobile processors, according to a "Veteran" Silicon Valley CEO who knew Steve Jobs personally. Characterized by their low power consumption and high performance, these chips are a vital part of the "Post-PC" future Apple is betting on.Apple employees more than 50,000 people, out of which 30,000 work in retail. The thousand employees working on next generation chips amount to five percent of the company's non-retail staff.The source in a conversation with TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld said:"Steve Jobs told me he has 1,000 engineers working on chips. Getting low power and smaller is the key to everything."Apple started building up its in-house chip design team after acquiring P. A. Semi in 2008, with an intention to produce chips that "help run increasingly sophisticated software on iPhones and iPods". Intel, Apple's longtime partner for processors on Macs and AMD were stuck in the post PC-era, which is another reason why Apple chose to get things done themselves.Just earlier this month, DigiTimes reported that Apple's manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) had sent a 60 member team to Apple to talk about upcoming A-series processors.Another trend that Apple devices seem to be adopting - replacing traditional hard drives with flash memory. The Silicon Valley CEO says that when these two "Post-PC" trends are combined "form factor no longer becomes an issue".Have you noticed how every new iteration of an Apple product delivers better performance, manages to maintain the same battery life (in some cases such as the iPhone 4S, Apple manages to improve battery life slightly)?Apple has already said that it invested a huge amount of money a few years ago in flash based memory, foreseeing that it would be an important component in the future. During the Q1 2011 Earnings call, Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted that it has made a similar investment into one such component, not revealing what it was. While at that time, people speculated it could be touch screens (Retina displays), this piece of information can even mean that they were processors.Makes sense right? Why would a team of 60 members from TSMC come all the way from Taiwan to Apple's offices in the U.S unless there's something big.So what does all this mean for us? According to TechCrunch writer MG Siegler, he's been told that these post-PC products will blow our mind away.[via TechCrunch]TweetRelated PostsSteve Jobs’ Vision To Extend To Future Apple Products Including Next Generation iPhoneApple Products Are Not Allowed In The Gates Household – Melinda GatesApple Reportedly Working On Mini iPad – To Launch In Q1 2011Official Google Voice App Reportedly Approved By Apple; Mozilla Has No Plans To Build Full Firefox Browser For iPhoneApple Working on 32 GB High-End iPhone and Low End 3G Version?Posted by Rounak on October 11, 2011 in Apple News | Permalink|Comments (10) Comments
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jlluna said... That’s Great news! That is why apple is so far ahead of everyone.I have been very happy with every product i have purchased from apple, and i see they just keep striving to be better.
October 11, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Zolk said... So, now that iphone4s is out, we have to report yet more rumours and unsubstantiated gossip on other Apple business?? Get more jailbreak/unlock/cydia apps info and tutorials already!
October 11, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Vic said... Since they dont have any real news… They dont have anything else to post. Im so happy all the BS this dudes posted about the inminent iPhone 5 didnt pan out. Left them right on the spot. Its all speculation and wishful thinking. Gotta tell you, every single day im a little bit less compelled to come back to this blog.
October 11, 2011 at 12:22 PM
Look at experience said... Goodbye
October 11, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Jess said... I agree with Zolk and Vic. This blog has become pretty lame. Their posts are hardly ever interesting and they are often late to report actual breaking news.
I used to dislike people complaining about exactly that, but the past few months, I have begun to see their point. This blog should not be called “iphonehacks”. It is misleading, considering how little they post actual jailbreak and cydia material. A better name would be “iphonegossip”.
October 11, 2011 at 3:58 PM
iPhoneHacks said... Apologies, we will try our best to do a better job, but you probably know by now that we cover more than just hacks and tweaks just like MacRumors, which covers more than just rumors.
We genuinely felt it was interesting to see how Apple has been thinking with its Post PC strategy and what we can expect from Apple in the future.
October 11, 2011 at 1:29 PM
WritingForProfit said... There’s no need to apologize. The new posts keep the content here fresh on a daily basis. Some sites I visit are off on the weekends, and two days without fresh content gets boring.
Besides, most of us just skip over articles that don’t interest us anyway. Keep up the great work!
October 11, 2011 at 3:50 PM
KR said... Anything apple should be fair to post on this site!
Like anything else iphonehacks evolves to more than just jailbreak news
Ersh` said... This is some amazing news! keep em coming! and its my first post in this blog since a year \ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Stuff I Stole From The Internet\Iphone Hacks\icon_smile.gif)
gr8 work!!
Sunit said... Great work guys.
I understand some people may want cydia/hacking news only, but I personally I think this site is great!!
keep it up guys, and thanks.
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MacRumors is reporting that the iPhone 4S has a significant upgrade to the antenna. The new system will be able to dynamically switch between antennas to resolve signal issues.Apple has come a long way since the AntennaGate fiasco that surrounded the original iPhone 4, and Spencer Webb of AntennaSys says the new design may have huge implications for the industry.The iPhone 4's design was based around having the various antennas located around the steel band that surround's the device's sides. The top part housed the Wi-Fi and GPS antennas and the bottom was home to the cellular antenna. Many users reported signal issues with the design, something that may or may not have been mitigated in the CDMA version of the device.
Webb theorized that the CDMA version changed the design. The Wi-Fi and GPS antenna were moved to the back of the phone's body and a second cellular antenna was added to the top of the steel band. This "spatial diversity" helped improve signal issues, but was limited in the way it sent and received data. Namely, it's believed that only the bottom antenna could transmit data.The iPhone 4S's design is similar, but Apple says that it will have "send and receive diversity" for both CDMA and GSM. This means that the phone will be able to dynamically change which antenna is transmitting or receiving data, something that can provide a huge improvement in cellular performance.Webb also stated:
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