At its annual developers conference, Apple announced that it will be moving to using its own chips in the Mac. The chips will be similar to the ones found in the iPad and the iPhone – based on the ARM architecture.
The transition from Intel to ARM based chips will be huge – it will enable Apple to have tighter control over its products and also reduce the reliance on Intel for chips. The chips which will power the upcoming Macs will very likely have much more similarity to the ones found in the iPad.
The iPad Pro is an extremely powerful device. In the iPad Pro advertisement video, Apple noted that the A12Z chip found in the iPad Pro is much faster than 95% of the computers in the world. It is also important to note that Apple products are much more powerful and efficient because of the tight integration of hardware and software.
By moving to ARM based chips, Apple will be able to make their Mac computers faster and more efficient. Apple does not officially refer to it as “ARM chips” but instead “Apple Silicon”. Apple CEO Tim Cook said during WWDC that the complete transition will take around two years.
Apple will continue to support Intel Macs for years to come and also is planning to release a few more Intel Macs in the near future. The most talked about upcoming Mac is the 24” iMac which is said to bring a fresh new design to the ageing product. Most of the reports have noted that the product will continue to use Intel chips.
Industry experts suggest that Apple will release MacBooks with ARM chips as it will be easier to create ARM chips for laptops first. The company already has expertise in making chips for portable products such as the iPad and the iPhone. Apple chips for desktops may take sometime.
