Makes me wonder if, in their eternal efforts to completely integrate their supply chain, Apple dont build their own FAB even if they were just running a single line initially to produce NAND for example, something all of their devices can use... and they could afford to build it outright (and still have a little spare cash in the bank.)
Fabs are a commodity that loses value pretty quickly (low margins also), what Apple is trying to do is make sure that any improvement of technologies bought by their R&s $$$ won't end up helping the competition.
It goes for CPUs (their design performance is simply amazing for such a young CPU designer), GPUs (again great performance) and it will probably go to SSD memory etc.
Whether people like it or not Apple is making most of the mobile industry profits, followed by Samsung (in part because they are also a big supplier for Apple). Apple has decided not to subsidise Samsung, HTC, LG & others High End Android manufacturer by keeping financing designer entities like ARM and Imagination Technology.
Will the performance gap widen quickly enough so it has a true impact on the market and competition ? I think yes but we will see.
They didn't just license, but bought the patents and extended their contracts with Dialog, while also hiring 300 employees whose expertise is behind the IP.
Did you READ the article? The WHOLE POINT of the deal is to try to avoid that for Dialog.
Look, this is not rocket science. Apple is a large customer, and while they start off using generic components, at some point they want to specialize those components. At that point a small supplier has two choices: - they can accept this reality, that there will be a divergent, Apple, path and work with Apple to minimize their pain and maximize Apple's benefit. Win Win. This is apparently what Dialog did. - OR they can refuse to accept this reality. We don't know quite what happened with PowerVR, but my guess (based on what I've seen of the CEO's other commercial behavior) is that Apple offered an essentially analogous deal as Dialog, for essentially the same reasons. Difference was Imagination imagined they held all the cards, that they could convert this from a win win to massive windfall for IMG. And if there's one thing anyone should know about Apple, it's that they don't respond well to that sort of commercial threat (hint, Qualcomm..., though it's probably too late for you).
This is, IMHO, not really about Dialog per se, or even Apple per se, it's about attitudes to business. Some (most?) feel business works well when mutually beneficial arrangements are negotiated, but there are a few psychopaths who insist that every deal has to be utterly maximal to their benefit, that any penny left to the other guy is a failure. Fortunately for Dialog (and, probably for Apple), Dialog was run by sane people, not psychopaths, so a win-win was possible.
I expect similar deals will be negotiated over the next few years with people like Cirrus for audio. Let's hope that the Cirrus management are, likewise, willing to treat negotiations as an opportunity for mutual win.
I'd wager this has more to do with the throttle fiasco Apple suffered. There's a theory that Dialog chips were to blame for it and around that time a rumor circulated that Apple were to drop Dialog. Now it seems they are doing a Google-HTC type deal.
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WatcherCK - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Makes me wonder if, in their eternal efforts to completely integrate their supply chain, Apple dont build their own FAB even if they were just running a single line initially to produce NAND for example, something all of their devices can use... and they could afford to build it outright (and still have a little spare cash in the bank.)Torrijos - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Fabs are a commodity that loses value pretty quickly (low margins also), what Apple is trying to do is make sure that any improvement of technologies bought by their R&s $$$ won't end up helping the competition.It goes for CPUs (their design performance is simply amazing for such a young CPU designer), GPUs (again great performance) and it will probably go to SSD memory etc.
Whether people like it or not Apple is making most of the mobile industry profits, followed by Samsung (in part because they are also a big supplier for Apple).
Apple has decided not to subsidise Samsung, HTC, LG & others High End Android manufacturer by keeping financing designer entities like ARM and Imagination Technology.
Will the performance gap widen quickly enough so it has a true impact on the market and competition ? I think yes but we will see.
Zingam - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The Ultimate Final goal and Solution is for Apple to create the Perfect Customer. The next step would be to buy a genetic engineering company.mdriftmeyer - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
They didn't just license, but bought the patents and extended their contracts with Dialog, while also hiring 300 employees whose expertise is behind the IP.Speedfriend - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Hmm, any deal with Apple usually turns out to be the kiss of death for a smaller supplier...name99 - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
Did you READ the article? The WHOLE POINT of the deal is to try to avoid that for Dialog.Look, this is not rocket science. Apple is a large customer, and while they start off using generic components, at some point they want to specialize those components. At that point a small supplier has two choices:
- they can accept this reality, that there will be a divergent, Apple, path and work with Apple to minimize their pain and maximize Apple's benefit. Win Win. This is apparently what Dialog did.
- OR they can refuse to accept this reality. We don't know quite what happened with PowerVR, but my guess (based on what I've seen of the CEO's other commercial behavior) is that Apple offered an essentially analogous deal as Dialog, for essentially the same reasons. Difference was Imagination imagined they held all the cards, that they could convert this from a win win to massive windfall for IMG. And if there's one thing anyone should know about Apple, it's that they don't respond well to that sort of commercial threat (hint, Qualcomm..., though it's probably too late for you).
This is, IMHO, not really about Dialog per se, or even Apple per se, it's about attitudes to business. Some (most?) feel business works well when mutually beneficial arrangements are negotiated, but there are a few psychopaths who insist that every deal has to be utterly maximal to their benefit, that any penny left to the other guy is a failure.
Fortunately for Dialog (and, probably for Apple), Dialog was run by sane people, not psychopaths, so a win-win was possible.
I expect similar deals will be negotiated over the next few years with people like Cirrus for audio. Let's hope that the Cirrus management are, likewise, willing to treat negotiations as an opportunity for mutual win.
id4andrei - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I'd wager this has more to do with the throttle fiasco Apple suffered. There's a theory that Dialog chips were to blame for it and around that time a rumor circulated that Apple were to drop Dialog. Now it seems they are doing a Google-HTC type deal.