Intel says iPhone not capable of 'full Internet'

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Intel Corp. this week used a developer forum in Taipei to tout its upcoming Moorestown platform for next-generation mobile Internet devices (MIDs) while slamming Apple's iPhone as a device bogged down by its use of ARM processors.



Following his keynote presentation at the conference, Intel vice president of mobility Shane Wall teamed with colleague Pankaj Kedia, the chipmaker's ultra-mobility ecosystems director, in lambasting the iPhone as a device dependent on technology that's a full two to three years behind that which Intel can offer.



"If you want to run full internet, you're going to have to run an Intel-based architecture," Wall told the gathering of engineers. He said the "iPhone struggles" when tasked with running "any sort of application that requires any horse power."



"The shortcomings of the iPhone are not because of Apple," added Kedia. "The shortcomings of the iPhone have come from ARM."



He said other handset vendors, not just Apple, face the same problem in that their smartphones are "not very smart" because "they use ARM." Wall argued that the iPhone has fallen short in a number of areas, despite its great user interface and supporting marketing blitz orchestrated by chief executive Steve Jobs.



As such, neither executive believes the iPhone will achieve "fast, full internet" any time in the near future if it continues to rely on ARM-based processors.



"Even if they do have full capability, the performance will be so poor," Wall said. To that, Kedia added: "I know what their roadmap is, I know where they're going and I'm not worried."



Apple's recent acquisition of fabless chip designer P.A. Semi appears to have all but cemented the future of the iPhone and iPod in ARM technologies. The electronics maker was recently fingered as the 'long term architecture licensee' of ARM's current and future technology for use in mobile computing.



Steve Jobs said earlier this year that buyout of P.A. Semi would drive the future of his company's handheld products, and it was later revealed PA Semi's senior principle architect is busy at Apple managing a team developing a custom ARM chip that will power a new generation of iPhones.



Apple is also believed to be the mysterious licensee of Imagination Technologie's current and future PowerVR graphics technologies, which are likely to be tied into its future ARM-based iPhone system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 79
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    The honeymoon is over.



    The lovers are quarreling.
  • Reply 2 of 79
    zanshinzanshin Posts: 350member
    NEWS FLASH: Vendor not selected to provide components says Buyer made a mistake. Film at eleven... (or streaming cell phone video?)"
  • Reply 3 of 79
    ajmasajmas Posts: 597member
    If Intel can point to a processor, in their line, that is as capable computationally and as power efficient, as the ARM, then they should tell us what it is. Anything else sounds like FUD.
  • Reply 4 of 79
    zanshinzanshin Posts: 350member
    It's not a full-powered computer, it's a pocket computer-phone. Hybrids always have limitations, and rarely achieve "best of both worlds" feature sets. "Economy pickup trucks" can neither pull 10,000 lb loads nor get wonderful fuel economy, but they make sense to a lot of people wanting to haul some yard waste to the organic landfill once in a while and not have to live with 8 mpg for everything else.
  • Reply 5 of 79
    sounds to me like intel just found out that the Lost the Apple deal.. Bash Bash
  • Reply 6 of 79
    OMG of course ARM sucks! is not Intel!

    Take that Apple for not buying a processor doesn't even exist! (intel)

  • Reply 7 of 79
    Well, Apple can move to the ARM Cortex A8 quad core designs, which offer 8x the performance without additional power consumption. Perfect for Grand Central.



    And they can adopt the Imagination SGX to replace the MBX. Perfect for OpenCL.



    They are licensees for both.



    Perhaps in the 2010 iPhone?
  • Reply 8 of 79
    i386i386 Posts: 91member
    Intel wouldn't be crapping on about their handheld if there wasn't an iPhone.
  • Reply 9 of 79
    That is like saying Macbooks are not full computers because they don't have Bru-Ray, card readers or HDMI connectors.



    Considering only 4.13% of the internet is up to standard... what does "full internet" mean these days?

    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...compliant.html
  • Reply 10 of 79
    Intel has always won because they manufacture silicon in the highest volumes. Quality is a factor, but high volume lowers cots, which can lower prices, which creates higher volumes. If the phone volume (potentially 1 purchase every 2 years per consumer) starts beating the PC volume (which is bigger, but obviously slowing) then Intel cannot afford to lose the mobile market.
  • Reply 11 of 79
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    Mmm...just because the iPhone does not support Flash or Java Mr. Intel slams it for being under powered by using ARM chips. Interesting. Yet there's a boatload of awesome games that seem to have no problem. I believe Mr. Intel confused the G1 for the iPhone.
  • Reply 12 of 79
    erunnoerunno Posts: 225member
    Sounds like a sales pitch to me. If Intel's offering is any good (price, efficiency, etc.) I'm sure Apple will consider switching from ARM for one of the future iPhone iterations.
  • Reply 13 of 79
    "Our unreleased processor is better than your released processor!"
  • Reply 14 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Intel Corp. this week used a developer forum in Taipei to tout its upcoming Moorestown platform for next-generation mobile Internet devices (MIDs) while slamming Apple's iPhone as a device bogged down by its use of ARM processors.





    The demo of their unit showed nothing that the iPhone is not already delivering. Intel's Moorestown platform is now irrelevant and they are trying to claim it is relevant.



    I'm sure Apple will continue to advance the processor in the iPhone (Cortex A8 perhaps), keep the developers happy to write apps for an increasingly better performing platform, and grow the market. Apple is very good at finding a niche they can win in and then expanding from there. Intel is still working on the mentality that they can morph their current stuff into something someone wants, even if there is no niche for all the intermediate steps.
  • Reply 15 of 79
    I have enjoyed the pleasure of an iPod Touch (V2) over the last few weeks - got one the day it was avail here in the UK. It is fast, fluid and, well, brilliant. It plays videos are full screen at maximum FPS, zoomes in and out of images and web pages pretty quickly (not THAT fast, but good enough) and is about 9mm thin. Intel are putting marketing over technology - what they have done for decades. Arm is a fantastic technology that Intel themselves invested in. And yes, the next generation chips from any vendor will be faster. Their comments are dishonest and stink of marketing poo. My respect for them has just sunk.
  • Reply 16 of 79
    I do agree that there is something wrong with the way that Apple shows the "full internet" whether that is due to software or the underpowered ARM processor I don't know, but I'm growing quite tired of my Safari Mobile crashing at least once a day whenever I try to do something "powerful" on it.



    For example, I'm writing this post from my MacBook Pro because I started writing it on my iPhone and it promptly crashed my Safari Mobile.



    I'm not kidding when I say that this happens at least once a day. Oh, and I restored the phone about three weeks ago...



    Anyway, Intel does have some sour grapes, but Apple also needs to address some issues with its Mobile Safari implementation.
  • Reply 17 of 79
    The iPhone has NEVER been capable of the "Full Internet" Huge swaths of the internet are flash based, and are completely inaccessible to the iPhone. To add insult to injury, Apple prevents other flash enabled browsers from being developed for that platform.



    I love my iPhone, but the lack of flash is a real issue for me.



    Intel is on the money with the comment, but not so much because of ARM, more due to management decisions.





    Sheldon
  • Reply 18 of 79
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stokessd View Post


    The iPhone has NEVER been capable of the "Full Internet" Huge swaths of the internet are flash based, and are completely inaccessible to the iPhone. To add insult to injury, Apple prevents other flash enabled browsers from being developed for that platform.



    I love my iPhone, but the lack of flash is a real issue for me.



    Intel is on the money with the comment, but not so much because of ARM, more due to management decisions.



    Definitely not at all about ARM, because Intel doesn't have anything that is equivalent.



    It's Apple's prerogative to not allow other browsers on iPhone, but it seems petty to me.



    I'd like to know exactly what sites are too big and complex for the iPhone to use.
  • Reply 19 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stokessd View Post


    The iPhone has NEVER been capable of the "Full Internet" Huge swaths of the internet are flash based, and are completely inaccessible to the iPhone. To add insult to injury, Apple prevents other flash enabled browsers from being developed for that platform.



    I love my iPhone, but the lack of flash is a real issue for me.



    Not having Flash is not a disadvantage -- it's wisdom. Flash is a clusterf@#k and web designers who rely on it heavily risk losing customers. I hate Flash!
  • Reply 20 of 79
    zunxzunx Posts: 620member
    "I know what their roadmap is, I know where they're going and I'm not worried."



    What does it mean? That Apple will use Intel for the iPhone and iPod touch? I HOPE SO BECAUSE THAT WILL ALLOW THE FULL MAC OS X EXPERIENCE ON YOUR HAND ON A TRULY POCKETABLE DEVICE!
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