When Apple Silicon reaches M7/M7X.

[Shirasaki]

When Apple announced their own silicon name is M1, I suddenly remember back in A7 days, there was a chip called M7 coprocessor. Of course M7 Apple Silicon and that coprocessor is not the same thing, but more like a fun trivia.

Will Apple skip M7 when it hits? Or changing the name so people wont get confused with coprocessor? If so, what name would Apple Silicon be past M6? M7 Pro? ?

 

[fwmireault]

You’re right, Apple used motion coprocessors labeled M7 to M11, the name following the same SoC number. With the A12 Bionic (which seems to be a new chapter in apple silicon technology and marketing), Apple stopped to distinguish the motion processor, labeling it as part of the SoC.

Hard to say what Apple will do, but I would be surprised that they skip all the M7 to M11 labeling for mac SoC. By the time they get there, it will likely make a decade since apple stopped to use this naming for the motion processors, and it’s not like these processors were as known as the A-series. Except if you search deeply in the specs sheets of these iphones, almost nobody knows the existence of this motion coprocessor. So I don’t think apple will skip or modify the nomenclature strategy, but of course only Apple knows at this time.

 

[jerryk]

I don't think Apple will worry about reusing a 15 to 20-year-old name.

 

[Digitalguy]

Back in 2013, before buying my first iPad, I bought a Galaxy Note 8, an Android tablet with a screen of 8in that competed with the iPad mini 1 and had an S pen.
Several years later the Galaxy note line (smartphones) reached number 8. Did Samsung skip it?
No, they just called it Note8 to distinguish it... But honestly the Note 8 was discontinued by then so nobody cared and most didn't even know or remember...

 

[xraydoc]

When Apple announced their own silicon name is M1, I suddenly remember back in A7 days, there was a chip called M7 coprocessor. Of course M7 Apple Silicon and that coprocessor is not the same thing, but more like a fun trivia.

Will Apple skip M7 when it hits? Or changing the name so people wont get confused with coprocessor? If so, what name would Apple Silicon be past M6? M7 Pro? ?

By that time, no one will remember the old iPhone M7 co-processor. And no one is going to confuse the Mac's M7 with the old iPhone co-processor based on the context of the name's use. And who even knows if in 7-10 years Apple is still using the "M" designation for the Mac's processors... if there even still is a Mac that we would recognize (merged with iOS into something completely different).
I have to believe it's 100% a non-issue amongst Apple leadership and marketing.

 

[CWallace]

Apple surely remembered the M-series of motion coprocessors when they decided to use M for the Mac version of Apple Silicon. As such, and as others have noted, by the time they reach M7, the only people who will remember, much less care, will be the pedants.

 

[bniu]

Apple recycles names all the time, MagSafe, iSight are just two examples. Apple owns the patents and copyrights to these names and can do pretty much as they please with them.

 

[Tech198]

When Apple announced their own silicon name is M1, I suddenly remember back in A7 days, there was a chip called M7 coprocessor. Of course M7 Apple Silicon and that coprocessor is not the same thing, but more like a fun trivia.

Will Apple skip M7 when it hits? Or changing the name so people wont get confused with coprocessor? If so, what name would Apple Silicon be past M6? M7 Pro? ?

Yipes.. .. too far in the future for me...My brain might skip most of that