Apple’s Lead Chip Designer Has Left the Company
Ron Perillo / 5 years ago
Key Apple Engineer Leaves After 9 Years
Gerard Williams III, Apple‘s senior director in platform architecture has apparently left the company according to CNET. Williams led the development of Apple processors from the A7 (iPhone 5S) all the way to the latest A12X (iPad Pro).
Apple has been designing their own chips for the iPhone since the early days. Their first Apple-branded chip was the A4 for the iPad back in 2010.
This is in sharp contrast to Android phones which are mostly made by Qualcomm. Huawei of course being the exception as they have their own semiconductor subsidiary to make Kirin processors (although based on ARM).
What Does This Mean for the Company?
Apple did not officially release any statement regarding the matter. Nor did Williams reveal what he will be doing next. Although Williams’ handiwork is expected to still show up on future products. He is a talented engineer with 60 Apple patents to his name. So we will most likely see some of his innovations in the next few months.
Even without Williams, the company is still expected to ditch Intel for their Mac systems. They have been using Intel since 2005 after switching from IBM PowerPC CPUs. An in-house designed chip is due out in 2020 with the arrival of new Macs. These are expected to offer better integration with other iOS devices and offer cross-software compatibility.
