Apple hires lead ARM CPU architect Mike Filippo
Apple recently recruited Mike Filippo, a CPU architect with a long history and credits at ARM, Intel, and AMD.
Filippo joined in May and is working out of the Austin, Texas area, according to his LinkedIn profile, spotted on Reddit. His most recent work -- since 2009 -- was with ARM on consumer, automotive, and infrastructure CPUs.
Prior to that he was the chief architect on a 24-core, 96-thread system-on-chip for Intel, and did design work on AMD's Athlon and Opteron processors.
Filippo's Apple position is listed only as "architect," making no reference to what team he's on, as with some other LinkedIn profiles. Apple has been using its own ARM-based CPU designs since 2010's A4 chip however, and is expected to continue with future iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and HomePods.
As recently as May 2018 Filippo argued that ARM's in-house designs would "do well" against Apple modifications, claiming that the real competition was Intel. Both ARM and Intel CPUs can now run Windows.
Rumors have claimed that Apple may use ARM chips in future Macs, possibly as soon as 2020. That would allow it to reduce its dependence on Intel -- which is sometimes slow to deliver new chips -- and further tailor hardware to specific Mac demands. The company frequently brags about battery life for instance, and stretches to keep MacBook specs at expected levels.
Filippo joined in May and is working out of the Austin, Texas area, according to his LinkedIn profile, spotted on Reddit. His most recent work -- since 2009 -- was with ARM on consumer, automotive, and infrastructure CPUs.
Prior to that he was the chief architect on a 24-core, 96-thread system-on-chip for Intel, and did design work on AMD's Athlon and Opteron processors.
Filippo's Apple position is listed only as "architect," making no reference to what team he's on, as with some other LinkedIn profiles. Apple has been using its own ARM-based CPU designs since 2010's A4 chip however, and is expected to continue with future iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and HomePods.
As recently as May 2018 Filippo argued that ARM's in-house designs would "do well" against Apple modifications, claiming that the real competition was Intel. Both ARM and Intel CPUs can now run Windows.
Rumors have claimed that Apple may use ARM chips in future Macs, possibly as soon as 2020. That would allow it to reduce its dependence on Intel -- which is sometimes slow to deliver new chips -- and further tailor hardware to specific Mac demands. The company frequently brags about battery life for instance, and stretches to keep MacBook specs at expected levels.
Comments
Possible in-house x64 based CPUs?
The whole ARM-Mac thing is one of the more interesting/entertaining rumor/stories that we've seen over the last 5 years or so. The arguments for and against are both very strong, making it hard to predict what will happen but also a ton of fun to debate.
My 2009 iMac is still running well. It always runs heavy pro software. I guess it's time to upgrade though. Gotta do it some day.
What I'd like to see is ARM running Intel apps through emulation (especially old 32-bit apps).
What would be really cool would be ARM running old PPC apps, OS9, or even 680x0. We can dream, can't we?
Under this idea, the back-end can be migrated to any architecture without affecting the user, and on any schedule. Especially if Apple host the back-end services, at least for individuals and low-demand users. High-demand users would have the option to buy their own Mac Pro/Server config.
Still, what do I know? No more than any of the analysts saying ARM based Mac Pros are coming any time soon.