EggXpert

Will they?

-----Possible...

cnet:

As Intel readies its most potent chip yet for small devices, Apple may already be using competing technology.

Apple iPhone 3GS processor

(Credit: iFixit)

One of the themes of the upcoming Intel Developer Forum (starting Tuesday) will be the chip giant's foray into the smartphone and mobile Internet device (MID) markets. Intel's current Atom chip is fine for Netbooks but has had little impact on MIDs and zero impact on smartphones, where it is simply too power hungry to be usable.

Enter Moorestown. A much more power efficient Atom chip, due by 2010, that should find its way into high-end LG smartphones, MIDs from Asian device makers, and tablets (from HP? Dell?).

Just so happens that Apple is doing analogous chip development. When Apple acquired chip design firm P.A. Semi in March 2008 it got a team of very capable engineers that, almost certainly, are designing silicon for future iPhones, iPods, and tablets.

But it's really not even necessary to speculate about the future. The Apple chip has already arrived (see photo). Some analysts believe that the Apple-branded chip in the iPhone is a fairly unique design and that Apple is simply using Samsung as a chip "foundry" or manufacturer. That would mean Apple is already competing with Intel's Atom, not to mention the host of ARM chip suppliers such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm.

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Any thoughts?

I highly doubt anything of the sort.   The chip in the picture is a SoC - system-on-chip.    At its heart is actually an ARM Cortex A8 CPU core, designed by ARM, and licenced/manufactured by Samsung.   All Apple does is macro-design - they take the CPU, add other task-specific chips: (radio, GPU, GPS, memory etc) and have it all assembled in one single-chip package, stamped with an Apple logo.    

See: http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3595 , in particular page 4.

Intel's chip is a shot not in Apple's direction, but rather at ARM and all those who license and manufacture their designs (Samsung, TI, Marvell etc).   If Apple considers Intel chip to be superior, their next Apple-logoed SoC is going to have a Moorestown core, rather than ARM.