The A4 chip is also highly customizable and can be tweaked for different devices, McGregor said. For example, more cores can be added for faster processing and graphics capabilities can be improved to gear A4 for gaming. Additional memory can be added to enhance application performance.

Apple also has skilled staff that can design A4-type chips to fit into specialized devices, McGregor said. The company's chip development staff includes employees who came with the 2008 acquisition of chip firm PA Semi, a company involved in designing low-power chips for embedded devices.

However, A4 should not be looked at as a long-term replacement for Intel processors in Macintosh computers, analysts said. Apple recently finished moving its software, including the Mac OS X operating system, to Intel architecture, and may not want to quickly transition to Arm. Macs also require substantially larger amounts of computing power, and Intel's chips are more powerful than the A4.

The A4 could be used as a co-processor for applications like instant-boot, which could boot up Macs in a few seconds for users to quickly access Web browsers or e-mail, analysts said. Dell already offers Arm processors alongside Intel processors in laptops specifically for instant-boot capabilities.

Apple could also include A4 as a security or network co-processor in Macs, Gold said. The chip could also be used to keep computers running when the main system is asleep to continuously get e-mails and messaging, Gold said.