Intel's proposal: We build ARM chips for iPhone if Apple switches to Intel chips for iPad

FORTUNE -- Hot on the heels of his colleague Amit Daryanani's speculation about where Apple might go to supplement -- or entirely replace -- Samsung as the sole supplier of processors for Apple's mobile devices, RBC Capital's Doug Freedman reports Friday that Cupertino is already in talks with one of top contenders: Intel.

Acknowledging that there's been speculation about this in the past, Freedman moves the ball forward by spelling out the terms of a possible deal:

• Intel (INTC) would agree to use Apple's preferred architecture for the iPhone -- the one from Intel's British rival, ARM Holdings (ARMH).
• In return, Apple (AAPL) would agree to switch to Intel's x86 architecture for the iPad.

According to Freedman, Apple's demand for 12-inch system-on-a-chip wafers in 2013 could approach 415,000 -- outstripping Samsung's ability to supply.

"We believe," he writes, that "Intel has the upper-hand due to the limitations of capacity at alternative sources" -- chiefly TSMC (TSM) and GlobalFoundries.