Apple has been investing directly in mobile processors since they bought a stake in ARM for the Newton. Then later they heavily invested in PortalPlayer, the designer of the iPod SoCs.
Their strategy for desktop and mobile processors has been different since the 90s and they only consolidated because it made sense to ditch their partners in the desktop space.
> Apple has been investing directly in mobile processors since they bought a stake in ARM for the Newton. Then later they heavily invested in PortalPlayer, the designer of the iPod SoCs.
Not this heavily. They bought an entire CPU design and implementation team (PA Semi).
I mean, they purchased 47% of ARM in the 90s. That's while defining the mobile space in the first place, and it being much more of a gamble than now. Heavy first line investment to create mobile niches has empirically been their strategy for decades.
Apple invested in them for a chip for Newton, not for the ARM architecture in particular. Apple was creating their own PowerPC architcture around this time, and they sold their share of ARM when they gave up on Newton.
The PA Semi purchase and redirection of their team from PowerPC to ARM was completely different and obviously signaled they were all in on ARM, like their earlier ARM/Newton stuff did not.
Their strategy for desktop and mobile processors has been different since the 90s and they only consolidated because it made sense to ditch their partners in the desktop space.