Apple cuts ties with Intel during WWDC keynote address
Apple on Monday confirmed a long-anticipated breakup with Intel, ending a 15-year tie-up with the giant chipmaker as the iPhone maker plans to switch to processors it has designed itself.
At the tech giant’s annual conference with software developers, Chief Executive Tim Cook also revealed new privacy initiatives, saying Apple will slap warnings on sites that ask for users’ data when they surf the web with Apple’s Safari browser, or download apps from its App Store.
Apple also revealed a new, real-time language translation feature for Siri and new software that lets an iPhone function as a car key.
The news came as the tech giant’s top executives broadcast its annual Worldwide Developers Conference — which last year drew more than 6,000 computer geeks looking to make software for its iPhones, Apple Watches and Macs — from Apple’s headquarters virtually, with no one in the audience.
Apple made official its long-awaited switch to its own house-designed chips during its WWDC keynote address, dramatically shrinking its relationship with Intel, which has since 2006 provided the processors for Mac computers. Apple already uses its own processor designs in iPhones and iPads, and with Monday’s announcement moved its full suite of products in-house.
The processors that California-based Apple has developed perform better than Intel’s chips, the company said, and will allow future computers to be both faster and more energy efficient. Apple is reportedly licensing technology from semiconductor company Arm Ltd.
The new chips will give software developers who make apps for the iPhone and iPad new access to its laptops and desktop for the first time. Apple software chief Craig Federighi said that for those offerings, “most apps will just work, with no changes from the developer” on the new Macs.
Intel will still have some presence in Apple computers, with CEO Tim Cook saying that there are still a few computers with Intel chips coming down the pike that he was “really excited” about, and said that Apple will continue to provide software updates for Macs with intel chips for “years to come.”
The full transition to homemade silicon will take two years, Cook said.
As it unveiled new privacy features, Apple execs said the next version of its iOS iPhone software will create privacy labels in the App Store which will tell users how much of their data is being hoovered up when they get a new app. They compared the new feature to nutrition labels found on food, and said they will allow users to make more informed decisions about what apps they choose to download.
Apps will be required to get user permission before tracking them, Apple announced, and later this year will be allowed to share their approximate location with app developers rather than their exact location when giving an app location access.
Also at WWDC, Apple introduced a slew of other iOS 14 features, including a redesigned interface for its Siri virtual assistant, as well as home screen widgets for the iPhone.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company unveiled a new system which will allow friends and family to share digital car keys via iMessage. The system will first be available on BMW 5 Series vehicles that ship next month. Apple said more cars that work with the system will come to market next year.
WWDC arrived as customers have held onto their iPhones longer and the company’s App Store has become central to its revenue growth.
Apple’s 15 to 30 percent cut of each app sale, coupled with its strict app review process, has come under antitrust scrutiny in the US and Europe, where regulators last week unveiled a formal probe into the company.
In what appeared to be an acknowledgement of some criticism, Apple said it will let users select non-Apple apps as default apps for tasks like email and web browsing on iPhones and iPads.
With Post wires