The iPad Pro sports an A9X chipset under its hood. This is Apple’s latest chipset and according to various benchmarks, the seems that the A9X is more than capable and has been found to even outperform Apple’s MacBook series of laptops, which is very impressive considering that the iPad Pro is basically a tablet.
This is probably why Apple’s CEO Tim Cook believes the tablet has the ability to replace PCs. However are PC makers the only ones that need to be worried? According to a report from AppleInsider, analyst Timothy Arcuri from investment firm Cowen and Company, it seems that even Intel needs to be worried.
Arcuri believes that the performance of the A9X could pose a threat to chip makers such as Intel. According to the analyst, “While the iPad Pro is not a PC replacement yet, AAPL and ARM are coming and the hardware is certainly a threat to INTC mobile CPU business once the software developers catch up.”
Assuming that Arcuri’s predictions are true, this would serve to fuel rumors that Apple could eventually move from Intel to ARM to power their MacBooks. There have been rumors spanning years suggesting that Apple could make the move but nothing concrete has surfaced, but could the performance of the A9X be an indication of what’s to come?