Tom's Hardware theorizes that if Apple were to adopt the open-source instruction set of RISC-V, it may save the company money because it wouldn't need to pay Arm a license fee for its instruction set.
The money Apple pays ARM is insignificant.
More likely in my opinion, they are exploring RISC-V as a base from which to build their own proprietary chips. There is nothing "open" about Apple.
The money will go where the innovative flywheel is. Both ARM and Apple have indulged in expensive wall and glass architecture which is not core to their being in business. Apple has an open source page.
The money Apple pays ARM is insignificant.
More likely in my opinion, they are exploring RISC-V as a base from which to build their own proprietary chips. There is nothing "open" about Apple.