Apple processors for iPhones ?

Back in April, Apple acquired PA Semi -- a Silicon Valley based chipmaker. Till recently, nothing was heard after the $278 million deal.

Now, New York Times reporter Ashley Vance happened to stumble upon the LinkedIn profile of Wei-han Lien, which said he's now working on "ARM CPU architecture team for iPhone." Nothing special? But what if Wei-han Lien happens to be a senior architect and engineer at Semi PA? News!

There were speculations regarding Apple deciding to use its own processors in the iPhones of the future. The PA Semi acquisition was the first step in this direction. Speculations were rampant on the type of processors that might be used. It is now clear that it will be based on the ARM. Those who are unaware, ARM processors are the most widely used mobile phone processors (read: handhelds, small, embedded systems).

Additionally, with Apple's good record of designing its own chips (until they switched to Intel); this should not be a concern. Remember the PowerMacs?

Only time will tell if this results in far more energy efficient iPhones in the near future.