Apple’s In-House Chip Edge ⇥ ft.com

Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times:

The fact that Apple was able to create custom-designed hardware for just a single feature [the front-facing flash] of the iPhone 6S highlights the expertise it has built in chip design, a technology that has traditionally been the preserve of specialist companies such as Qualcomm or Intel.

Apple shone a spotlight on that capability this week when it promoted Johny Srouji, head of its team of silicon engineers, to its executive ranks, as part of a wider management reshuffle.

This article focuses heavily on the iPhone, but Apple’s rising expertise in chip design has enabled the existence of products like the Apple Watch and the iPad Pro. But their chip designs are still prototyped and made by Samsung and TSMC. I think it’s a question of when — not if — Apple begins fabricating its own chips, and I think that’s going to be sooner rather than later.