Apple chooses AMD to supply its GPU's

SiDeards73 · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:04

http://www.fudzilla.com/news/graphics/40835-all-apple-2016-laptops-come-with-amd-gpus

Interesting news, another good win for AMD if true.

maonayze · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:24

Whichever side of the fence you look from Nvidia are the top dog in discrete graphics manufacture at the moment. Apple probably wanted to get the chips in at a cheap price that Nvidia wouldnt bow to. AMD need the revenue a lot more so probably sold them at a price that Apple were happy with. End of story.

This may prove advantageous for the recapture of market share in PC Laptops too if AMD get the marketing right, of course.

Freddie1980 · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:32

maonayze said:
Whichever side of the fence you look from Nvidia are the top dog in discrete graphics manufacture at the moment. Apple probably wanted to get the chips in at a cheap price that Nvidia wouldnt bow to. AMD need the revenue a lot more so probably sold them at a price that Apple were happy with. End of story.

This may prove advantageous for the recapture of market share in PC Laptops too if AMD get the marketing right, of course.

Maybe but doubtful. Apple has got burnt by Nvidia in the past.

Defiance_co · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:36

I think if AMD/Nvidia had equal chips with equal performance to equal power usage ...

Which would you use to maximise your profit

Goin by Nvidias pricing always seems to be obove AMD

For me it's a no-brainer why they've chose AMD

layte · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:40

Freddie1980 said:
Maybe but doubtful. Apple has got burnt by Nvidia in the past.

And more recently. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203787

What was the last Apple machine sold with a NV GPU? This seems a continuation of the current status quo, something that hasn't exactly done wonders for AMD's bottom line.

AlamoX · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:46

apple doesnt sell that many computers anyway

LS_Chao · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:49

I think the last nvidia chip in Apple was a 780m in the iMac before they put in r9 m2xx in the first 5k iMac,

Hopefully they can get a Polaris 11 in the new 15

ICDP · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:51

I was going to post saying no doubt the negtaivity/nvidia defenders will be in here to say

Apple don't sell many computers anyway
Nvidia doesn't need to sell to AMD
AMD must be selling them cheap.

I see I was too late

Gregster · 6 Jun 2016 at 13:54

Nvidia is doomed?

maonayze · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:03

Gregster said:
Nvidia is doomed?

I have screenshotted that one for posterity

fs123 · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:04

AlamoX said:
apple doesnt sell that many computers anyway

Are you sure?

http://www.statista.com/statistics/263444/sales-of-apple-mac-computers-since-first-quarter-2006/

This statistic shows global sales figures for Apple Mac computers from the first quarter of 2006 to the most recent financial quarter. In the first quarter of 2006 (October to December 2005), 1.25 million Mac computers were sold worldwide.

It appears they sold over 10 million macs this year so far (1st and 2nd quarter). Last year they sold over 20m so not too shabby at all.

nashathedog · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:08

Great news for AMD, I imagine contracts such as this and the ones with the consoles helps a lot when the pc gpu & cpu market isn't doing them any favours.

ICDP · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:36

fs123 said:
Are you sure?

http://www.statista.com/statistics/263444/sales-of-apple-mac-computers-since-first-quarter-2006/

It appears they sold over 10 million macs this year so far (1st and 2nd quarter). Last year they sold over 20m so not too shabby at all.

Get real, AMD are making maybe 5c on each GPU sold to Apple, Sony, MS in their pathetic unpopular devices. Everyone knows only enthusiast level, or HSC GPU sales matter.

Kaapstad · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:36

Apple is not the sort of company that is good to do business with.

AMD need to be very careful.

Emlyn_Dewar · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:42

They just chop and change, as the wind blows, don't they?
Plenty of different AMD/Nvidia GPUs used over the last few years by Apple.

Orcvader · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:56

Is Apple's Metal API low level like DX12/Vulkan? Could it also take advantage of async compute? Could be another reason why Apple picked AMD.

bru · 6 Jun 2016 at 14:58

This is good news for AMD and yes we know that Apple are tight penny pinching personages and AMD wont make much from each sale, but it is another guaranteed XXXX amount of parts sold over the period which can only be a good thing.

Ian Evey · 6 Jun 2016 at 15:08

Does this mean my iphone will play crysis 3 ultra settings? :cool:

fs123 · 6 Jun 2016 at 15:13

ICDP said:
Get real, AMD are making maybe 5c on each GPU sold to Apple, Sony, MS in their pathetic unpopular devices. Everyone knows only enthusiast level, or HSC GPU sales matter.

5c? No one in their right mind would make such a deal. The cost of any fails would far exceed any profits made.

Technology companies usually have a margin of 5-10% on average. AMD should be making around $5-10$ profit per APU sold. AMD may be in debt but that does not mean they put themselves in a situation where they could go deeper in the Red.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2308282/amd-makes-more-profit-than-sony-on-the-ps4

edit: you were being sarcastic right? my fail :eek:

D.P. · 6 Jun 2016 at 15:16

layte said:
And more recently. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203787

What was the last Apple machine sold with a NV GPU? This seems a continuation of the current status quo, something that hasn't exactly done wonders for AMD's bottom line.

My (work) imac suffered that problem. The apple store charged AMD something like $384 for parts and labour replacement. I womet how many people suffered the same.