Just a random musing that if the desktop and laptop chip is going to be a step change from the A line of chips on the phone, it is possible this was originally planned to be a special chip for the iPad Pro and we'll see the iPad Pro and Mac line running on 'Apple Silicon' instead of the A series of chips. The MacBook Air and iPad Pro 12 inch could certainly share the same much more beefy CPU than whats in a iPhone.
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iPad Pro iPad Pro moving to Apple Silicon
- Thread starter ruka.snow
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I think Apple Silicon = A series chip, just a different name for "Chip made by Apple"
I’m not sure if people get confused with apples use of the word silicon or not. Silicon is a generic on term used for integrated circuits etc, as that’s what they’re made from. Hence the long established name of ‘silicon valley’.
I think Apple used the word to describe its Mac processors simply to avoid the specific terms of chip or cpu etc - to show that Apple will now make the whole system. Apple will make the silicon.
The processor inside the iPhone and the iPad is already Apple silicon. When The new Macs are released I imagine they’ll still be referred to by their processor name, whatever that may be, like the iPad or iPhone is now.
I think Apple used the word to describe its Mac processors simply to avoid the specific terms of chip or cpu etc - to show that Apple will now make the whole system. Apple will make the silicon.
The processor inside the iPhone and the iPad is already Apple silicon. When The new Macs are released I imagine they’ll still be referred to by their processor name, whatever that may be, like the iPad or iPhone is now.
If Mac silicon were to be put in an iPad, I can’t imagine that it would be comfortable to hold due to all the heat.
No confusion here. Apple is suggesting that 'Apple Silicon' is branding or at least something different from A-series. It might end up being the Apple M-series of processors or the Apple Steve Jobs Legacy Series, but it has been made as a distinct thing from the A line in the mobile space and where I think there was perhaps a beefier iPad Pro chip coming that was suddenly good enough to go into the Macs too. It makes a lot more sense to me that the iPad Pro is driving a unique line of processor more than just the X variants.
If we look at other chip manufacturers we have everything from embedded systems chips to Xeon's and Power9. Apple also has a large lineup from the chip in the speakers and watch, to the bigger ones in the iPhone and iPad Air. It isn't daft to think there is a third tier that was being worked on for the iPad Pro that is now going to be the foundations of a new line for desktop-class machines. The Surface Pro has a more desktop-class chip and will have been eating away at Apple.
The Mac and potentially iPad Pro processor might share some DNA with the A-series chips, but it would be a more than a bit daft of them to constrain themselves.
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They wouldn’t be constraining themselves. The Mac chips will just be designed for the thermal limits of Mac form factors instead of mobile devices. All of the chips; A, T, M etc coupled with whatever chips and naming scheme they use for Mac CPUs all form what they describe as Apple silicon. They’re all derived from the same architecture. It’s not two different things, A series and Apple Silicon. Apple Silicon is just that, the silicon they design themselves to put in their machines. It’s just more of a computing term suitable for traditional computer users and developers over mainstream iOS users.
There was a recent episode of Upgrade where Jason and Myke interviewed a couple Apple execs, and they talked about processor scalability being a major focus. So you start with a base (the A14 currently), then scale it up or down depending on what you're putting it in. A prime example of this is the A12X/Z processors in the iPad Pros, which added more cores to provide more performance over the A12 that the design of the iPad allows for while not requiring the software to target something new.
The Mac will likely take a similar route, with more cores and higher clock speeds to take advantage of the cooling capabilities of a Mac, but all built as an extension of the A14. Then, as the A15 is developed, all the SW has to do is target one new processor, and that'll work across all the devices that run it, from the Watch to the Mac. A special new "Apple Silicon" line would really throw a wrench in this, and complicate a clean and simple development strategy that can move all of Apple's products forward together. So I think "Apple Silicon" is really just that, a general term for all silicon designed by Apple.
The Mac will likely take a similar route, with more cores and higher clock speeds to take advantage of the cooling capabilities of a Mac, but all built as an extension of the A14. Then, as the A15 is developed, all the SW has to do is target one new processor, and that'll work across all the devices that run it, from the Watch to the Mac. A special new "Apple Silicon" line would really throw a wrench in this, and complicate a clean and simple development strategy that can move all of Apple's products forward together. So I think "Apple Silicon" is really just that, a general term for all silicon designed by Apple.
The topic is about if there was a new chip in mind for the iPad Pro that is in some way more than the mobil phone chip. People are getting hung up on the name.