smalm

tjwolf said:

Kuo is forecasting it for 2018.  We have to see if he’s right.  I think he’s wrong.  When has Apple ever decreased diversification intentionally?  As the author himself notes, Apple likes it the opposite way - so they can play 2 vendors off each other.  I think AAPL will keep QCOM as a vendor - just reduce their share substantially.  

I think Kuo is right.
CDMA was the only reason to keep Qualcomm's modem. The XMM 7560 fixed that.
And with 1000/225 Mbps download/upload, support for 5x Carrier aggregation, and 4x4 MIMO it's more than good enough for iPhone 2018.
Apple easily gives up diversification when it suits them. I think Intel is willing and able to meet the production volume Apple needs.

techconc said:

The Mac Pro hasn't been updated in 4 years.... 

The Mac Pro was discontinued at the end of 2012 with no successor.
What Apple called the Mac Pro in 2013 is a descendant of the Mac Cube...

With Qualcomm's 845 produced in Samsung's 10LPP Apple will be the only one to have 7nm SoCs in most of 2018.
But at the end of 2018 we may see Kirin 980 at 7nm too. Transistor count for Kirin 970 is already 5.5 billion and chip size is ~97mm² - that's very big for a non-Apple SoC.
I think HiSilcon will aim for that density improvement 7nm has to offer. 

@Tjwolf ;
The modem doesn't have to be integrated on die - Apple could integrate the modem into the PoP (SoC + RAM + modem). Intel is rumoured to bring production of the next-gen modem inhouse (10nm process, same desity as TSMC's 7nm).

AppleInsider said:

as if Apple is just too good and desperately needs to be stopped by the people who couldn't manage to keep Motorola in business.

That was a little bit cruel...  

Apple replacing Intel with ARM? Must be the first time ever we hear about that