Apple may be left needing to find a new supplier of WiFi chips if a Digitimes report is accurate. The report claims that Broadcom is scaling back its WiFi chip production in favor of more profitable products.
Either way, though, Apple may need to find additional or replacement suppliers as it relies on the company's chips across almost its entire product range. It's reported that competitors MediaTek, Realtek Semiconductor and RDA Microelectronics have all received last-minute orders from Broadcom customers. It's not known whether this includes Apple.
Broadcom today announced that its new SDK for the Internet of Things (IoT) now officially supports Apple's home automation HomeKit platform, bringing us a step closer to widespread availability of Siri-controlled smart home devices.
The first HomeKit-compatible devices are likely now in production as two chipmakers confirmed to Forbes that they have begun shipping Apple-certified Bluetooth and Wifi chips to device manufacturers.
One part of the certification process for device makers is that they have to buy their Bluetooth and Wifi chips from Apple-approved chipmakers–Texas Instruments, Marvell and Broadcom.
These chipmakers have begun shipping their chips loaded with HomeKit firmware to device manufacturers, Broadcom and Texas Instruments have confirmed.
Following close behind its teardown of the iPad Air, iFixit has now taken its toolkit to the Retina iPad Mini. While the company understandably focuses on repairability – that's how it makes it's money – we're betting most people just want to have a peek inside.
iFixit has done its usual trick of hopping over to Australia to get its hands on an iPad Air in the first time-zone to open its doors for business to bring us a look at the innards of the new device. The device is now on sale in the U.S. too, with supplies expected to be good.
No surprise that the company found little prospect of success for DIY repair, reporting that even opening the casing was a challenge: when you pack that much technology into so small a space, there's going to be a lot of glue involved.