Just two days after Apple further advanced its Apple silicon portfolio with the M1 Pro and M1 Max, marking the first professional high-end chips designed for the Mac, Intel is reportedly making yet another attempt to win Apple back as a customer.
A day before Apple's long-awaited "Unleashed" event, Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger, said despite Apple moving away from his company's processors, he still hopes that Apple will return to Intel as a customer. Apple announced in June of 2020 its two-year-long transition to Apple silicon for the Mac, and despite Intel's best hopes and dreams, Apple is continuing its momentum to break up with it.
Now, a new report from DigiTimes is further indicating Intel is still trying to win back Apple as a customer. According to the report, Intel, alongside Samsung, is "striving to win orders for Apple's in-house developed Mac processors." Such a move from Apple would mean the company no longer relies entirely on TSMC for the production of its Mac processors, a decision that sources quoted in the report say is unlikely.
Intel's actions and comments publicly and seemingly behind closed doors could not be further apart. While Intel's CEO publicly expressed his wish to have Apple back as a customer, the company continues to run anti-Mac marketing campaigns targeted towards Apple and the Mac. Oddly enough, these campaigns, which have ranged from "social experiments" to tweets that backfired, all occur as Intel and Apple still work together to an extent.
After the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple no longer has an Intel processor in its entire MacBook (Air and Pro) lineup. Apple still has the larger 27-inch iMac, the Mac Pro, and a high-end Mac mini running with Intel processors. All of which are expected to be updated next year, with the latter happening sooner rather than later.
An Intel spokesperson declined to respond to our email asking for a comment about the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and Apple dropping even more Intel-powered Macs from its lineup.
