eXtensions - Wednesday 3 December 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
Online sources are now discussing the potential benefits that Apple could see from the rumor that it might use Intel to produce certain versions of Apple silicon chips. iPad mini pricing hints at the possibility of a coming update. Tim Cook may be leaving Apple, but not just yet. John Giannandrea, whom some point the finger at for perceived problems with Apple AI, is leaving. Many forget the good ideas we make use of that are his. Apple's AI Translation: mixed capabilities.
Last time I commented on the rumor from Ming-Chi Kuo that Intel was being tapped by Apple to produce low-end Apple silicon chips. The M-series chips like Pro and Ultra would still be manufactured by TSMC. Several sites commented, and I had a back and forth series of messages on X regarding this. As I mentioned in my comment, I do not regard anything that comes from rumor sites to be worth spending much time on, especially from this source. I note that much from Ming-Chi Kuo is not confirmed by later events and often seems timed to cause ripples just before Apple's quarterly financial reports.
However, the consensus is that there could be some sense to the idea: diversification; production in the USA which would be a positive; and would ease pressure on TSMC, allowing them to focus on those high-end chips with their 2nm and 3nm foundries. Intel is investing in the 18A process which is said to be for chips thinner than 2nm although some sources say this is not stable enough currently Jeffrey Dastin & Max A. Cherney (Reuters).
More recently, Anton Shilov (Tom's Hardware) reports that yields have improved, but "are not yet comfortable from a commercial point of view." Shilov also notes that the 18A process is to be used for "Panther Lake processors for consumer PCs, then for Xeon 6+ 'Clearwater Forest' and 'Diamond Rapids' processors for data centers, as well as for Nova Lake CPUs, which target the enthusiast market." However, the progress with Intel's 18A chips is expected to be slower than planned.
Ed Hardy (Cult of Mac) makes the salient point that others have only touched upon: currently Apple is 100% dependent on TSMC. That is probably unique in the way the supply chains have been set up. By having Intel as a second string to the bow, there would be a fall-back position if there was any interruption to supply. It could also provide Apple with some leverage when it comes to negotiations with TSMC.
Without the work of Intel, where would the current industry be? As Jonny Evans (Apple Must) points out, when the PowerPC was not working out as Apple had expected, Intel came to the rescue and enabled Apple to switch to its chips which served well for a number of years. It should be remembered that Apple always hedges its bets.
While the Power PC chips were in use, Apple had been running OS X on Intel chips for some 5 years; and while it was using Intel chips, was working on what became Apple silicon. Development on what became the M-series started in around 2010 with the A4. That was 10 years to produce the M1 and the MacBook Pro in 2020: 5 years ago. I bought that first MacBook Pro with the M1 as soon as it was available here and it has never let me down. It still does all I want. My M4 iPad Pro and Mac mini, are similarly reliable.
There have been plenty of low-price offers of Apple devices in recent times, at least in the USA with the run up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday. One that is still being offered - and may be overdue for an update - is the iPad mini. I have one of these as a spare and remember that not so long ago they were quite popular here, particularly among younger people, as the device could fit in a pocket or small bag. I still have the Generation 6 version with its A15 Bionic chip. The only problem I find is that with my device the battery runs down more than I would like.
The current iPad mini has the A17 Pro chip with 8GB of memory (as opposed to 4GB in mine). Jason Cross (MacWorld) notes that the price has dropped to below $350 when Black Friday it was just under $400. The last two iPad mini versions were released in September 2021 and October 2024. It may seem a little early for a new version. The iPad mini is not in short supply as ordering here can be either immediate pickup at the Apple Store or fairly quick delivery.
Much excitement followed the Financial Times claim that Tim Cook was looking towards retirement and that Apple had started a search for a replacement. You know it is all wrong by the second half of that sentence. If Apple has not decided on Cook's replacement, for when he does eventually depart, the company deserves to be doomed. I write that in dubious honor of the many who have already predicted that Apple is doomed, although a special place is always reserved for Trip Chowdhury (Kelly Guimont, MacObserver), with Michael Dell Alexia Tsotsis, TechCrunch) a close second.
That Cook will leave Apple at some point is inevitable. We all move on at some point, whether it is to retirement, a new job or shuffling off this mortal coil, and well-run companies would almost certainly make sure that replacements would be listed. In some cases there would be a single candidate as in Cook's own nomination for CEO of Apple. Apple might be following that same pattern, and Cook would undoubtedly have had input on the potential candidate or candidates. Consensus appears to favor John Ternus (Senior VP, Hardware Engineering), with the possibility of Deirdre O'Brien, Senior VP for Retail and People. Other candidates may be affected by age or potential job limitations.
One Senior VP who is certainly not in line for the CEO position is John Giannandrea who is reported to be retiring in the Spring. Before that he is stepping down from the company. Zac Hall (9to5Mac) reports that some blame him for the early problems with Apple Intelligence which saw some delays and a shift in strategy. We should not forget that John Giannandrea joined Apple from Google and did some good work in the machine learning area before AI became the focus of the tech press with its, "Apple must do something" stance.
Some think that it was all rather rushed with the sudden acceleration of AI use worldwide. I see that push as much forced by Wall Street analysts as technical experts. There was (and is) a lot invested in AI and many fear a bubble that could burst. I prefer the gentle integration that Apple is working towards, rather than a massive takeover that some companies have tried. Fortunately, I am not alone in recognising the good work that John Giannandrea did. Wesley Hilliard (AppleInsider) who has wrote about this before, provides some real context for what we owe to Giannandra.
Apple's AI use is developing but rather than other platforms it is an on-device system. We have John Giannandrea to thank for that. I am not a fan of any AI and with my only-occasional use of what is available to me on my devices, I have not been over-impressed. For example, I do not like the Clean Up feature in Photos (I switch to Photomator if an image needs repair), and little of the writing output has been to my satisfaction, although I can see how some might be suitable for basic information. Dennis Sellers has a look at the translation tools that Apple now provides.
My particular emphasis has been on Thai and I have not been satisfied with how this has worked for me. Sellers has a wider look and his analysis is worth a look. Remember that some of the other languages Apple uses will have had more input sources. Thai is a bit of an outlier and no online or computer translation services do a perfect job with this language. Google Translate is about the best, although the output still needs much work. The AI translations that are sent to me have been pretty poor so far, but these examples are usually from Thai AI output.
I took a couple of examples from the Translate app on the iPad Pro. The device needs to be online. The first input used the camera, which could save a lot of work. The basic setup was for Spanish, but a button near the bottom of the screen allowed me to change to different languages, including Thai. I had already set the Text panel up for English to Thai. There is a useful double arrow icon between the two language panes to allow the input and output languages to be switched. I copied some text from this article and asked a young lady in the office to have a look. Like Dennis Sellers, she said that she could understand the basic intent of the content, but that the Thai would need some reworking for any official use.
Last week when I was trouble-shooting the charging problems I was experiencing with my new Apple Watch 11, I glanced at an article from 9to5 Mac that mentioned the way that Apple had engineered a new feature into the workings of the second hand when the Watch was being used in low power mode. Normally, the second hand sweeps round the Watch face smoothly. For those of us who had wind-up watches - real clockwork inside - the second hand advances second by second. Low power mode makes the hand work in this way.
Zac Hall (9to5Mac) has figured out a way to have the older, analog style by changing a setting. It is a kludge and he does point out that there are disadvantages. I decided to pass, at least for now, but wonder if Apple would introduce an analog style option in a future update. As for the charging, I think my problems regarding charging stem from the way Apple controls the fast charge feature. It sometimes stops when around 80% is reached, even when I specify a full charge. Checking once in a while - another waste of time that was never needed before - lets me see when to select the full charge option for a second time.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader. No AI was used in writing this item.
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