As I understand it, Apple has a special perpetual license for the architecture thanks to it being one of the companies that founded ARM. This deal shouldn't have too much impact on Apple.
To my knowledge, Apple was not involved in any founding of ARM (the company or the ISA).
ARM history, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#History
Edit: I guess you could quibble about ‘founding’, but really I’m wrong, and my own link proves it!
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Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. – Arm6
In the late 1980s, Apple Computer and VLSI Technology started working with Acorn on newer versions of the Arm core. In 1990, Acorn spun off the design team into a new company named Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.,[30][31][32] which became Arm Ltd when its parent company, Arm Holdings plc, floated on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in 1998.[33] The new Apple-Arm work would eventually evolve into the Arm6, first released in early 1992. Apple used the Arm6-based Arm610 as the basis for their Apple Newton PDA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#Advanced_RISC...
Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. – Arm6
Die of an Arm610 microprocessor In the late 1980s, Apple Computer and VLSI Technology started working with Acorn on newer versions of the Arm core. In 1990, Acorn spun off the design team into a new company named Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.,[30][31][32] which became Arm Ltd when its parent company, Arm Holdings plc, floated on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in 1998.[33] The new Apple-Arm work would eventually evolve into the Arm6, first released in early 1992. Apple used the Arm6-based Arm610 as the basis for their Apple Newton PDA.
The ironies of history: one of Apple's most infamous failures ended up being the foundation of their later success.
"First, ARM has two different kinds of licenses. One is for chipset designs. You pay your fee, you take your Cortex cores or whatever, you get them fabbed, and you've got your CPUs.
The other is an ISA license. With that, you get no chip design. None. All you get is the instruction set architecture. You have to roll the actual design yourself.
And that's what Apple's been doing. Making their own custom designs that use the ARM instruction set. For years."
It is standard business offering from ARM.