RUMOR: Apple Ditching Intel in 2020 (Bloomberg)

[bsbeamer]

Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs From 2020, Replacing Intel

Apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel, according to people familiar with the plans, Bloomberg News’ Ian King and Mark Gurman report.

The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices -- including Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...to-move-from-intel-to-own-mac-chips-from-2020

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If this is truly the case, wonder what it means for the upcoming Mac Pro 7,1 and other machine updates. This could force many to move away from Mac for work purposes by 2020...

 

[whitedragon101]

Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs From 2020, Replacing Intel

Apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel, according to people familiar with the plans, Bloomberg News’ Ian King and Mark Gurman report.

The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices -- including Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...to-move-from-intel-to-own-mac-chips-from-2020

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If this is truly the case, wonder what it means for the upcoming Mac Pro 7,1 and other machine updates. This could force many to move away from Mac for work purposes by 2020...

I hope they still manage to keep bootcamp. Removing bootcamp would push a lot of users away from Mac.

 

[ActionableMango]

There's a shoutout to the Mac Pro in there:

The company has also previously released Macs with ARM-based co-processors, which run an iOS-like operating system, for specific functions like security. The latest MacBook Pro and iMac Pro include the co-processors. Apple plans to add that chip to a new version of its Mac Pro, to be released by next year, and new Mac laptops this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.​

 

[charliemacos]

I can definitely see this happening. I just hope it won't be too difficult for devs to convert apps to the new ARM chips. Many apps got left behind when Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel

 

[zephonic]

If computing power is on par with Intel's baddest Xeons, all good.

 

[whitedragon101]

I can definitely see this happening. I just hope it won't be too difficult for devs to convert apps to the new ARM chips. Many apps got left behind when Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel

I think the compiler will take care of this. Apps made with objective-c or swift in xcode will just need a recompile and all will be well.

My concern is with boot camp and windows. Wouldn't be able to recompile all the windows software so easily.

 

[chrissomos]

If this happens it will break pretty much every Mac app and make it very hard to multi-platform software to be ported to the mac. Still it is possible.

 

[pl1984]

Didn't Apple switch to Intel because of the effort required to make their own processor? I also had a good chuckle from this statement:

"With its own chips, Apple would not be forced to wait on new Intel chips before being able to release updated Macs..."

Intel has new chips available which Apple isn't using.

 

[BlueTide]

If the App Store plays out, I can see that things would get compiled on Apple's side to the correct architectures and delivered downstream. Some get left behind which require the same PPC to Intel transition kind of updates. A bit of pain, but time solves most of it.

Personally, though, if Intel Mac Pro comes out this/next year and we know that Arm is coming soon too... it makes me think again about getting one, tho. Or just close my eyes and ears and predict none of this Arm stuff is in sight.

 

[mtneer]

If computing power is on par with Intel's baddest Xeons, all good.

Isn't it already there? I thought there were articles last about the previous generation A10 beating benchmarks on the Xeon or even the Xeon Phi's? Although these numbers from Apple could be juiced so that they only hit that peak performance when the device is at 100% battery strength and then rapidly throttles down within a few months of usage.

 

[goMac]

Isn't it already there? I thought there were articles last about the previous generation A10 beating benchmarks on the Xeon or even the Xeon Phi's?

I've never heard of that.

They're generally competitive with the low end mobile i7s.

I think I heard someone benched one against a quad core 2013 Mac Pro and it was faster, even though at this point that's pretty meaningless.

 

[maflynn]

[MOD NOTE]
We have a large thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...se-custom-mac-chips-starting-in-2020.2113132/

Please use that thread for this topic