Apple Licensing Imagination's Graphics Cores?

EETimes reports on speculation that Apple may be a licensee for Imagination Technologies Group's "next-generation" graphics and video cores.

The conclusion appears to be entirely speculative, with Imagination reporting only that "an international electronics systems company" has signed a multi-use licensing agreement.

Observers have speculated that Apple will use the SGX 3D graphics and video cores in forthcoming products, with future generations of the iPhone as obvious candidates. The SGX core may also, or alternatively, be destined for inclusion in an Apple IPTV product, one observer said.

RegHardware notes that the iPhone currently uses Imagination's MBX GPU built into its Samsung processor, and suggests that Apple may "well have decided it can get more out of the platform if it gets hold of the core itself."