When will the first ARM Mac be released?

[deconstruct60]

Apple avoids shipping new hardware in November/December because they want their holiday lineup to be set by then. There is zero chance of January, don't even know why that's a poll option.

avoids November December? Gerernally but not particularly rigid rule.


iMac "thinned edges" transition ( 201? ). the 27 models pratically slid out into Janurary when Apple had manufacturing problems.

Mac Pro 2013 December.
iMac Pro 2017 December.
MacBook Pro "16 2019 (late) November.
Mac Pro 2019 December.

The 2013 , 2017 , 2019 were all vague promises by Apple in June of that year that about something before the "end of the year" or "before Winter " (meaning the Winter solstace December 19th - 21st range ).

Apple's "June 2020" promise of before the end of the year rings very much like their Mac Pro and iMac Pro "sneak previews" ( only "preview" is just highly limited to a non-product DTK in terms of physical shape. Not a preview of actual product. )

In fact, Apple deliberated bailed out of the now-defunct Macworld Expo because they did not want to be forced to come up with new announcements in early January. That worked again the retail buying cycle and was problematic with employees taking time off (Hannukah, Christmas, New Year, etc.).

That's not really what Apple said. They said they were bailing out so that could release products more so when they were ready instead of some arbitrary calendar timeline. Of course after the first couple of interations on the iPhone lapsed on this to exactly go back to some rigid fixed in stone "arbitrary" deadline date (only of their own choosing.) .

It would be quite easy if planned in advance to finish before Holidays ( Hannuak , Christmas , New Year). [ Probably would leak in more detail is wrapped up a coupled weeks in advance but also ] Chinese New Year is a big manufacturing break in January also.

The more mainstream Mac releases have moved around over time.

The most realistic Apple Silicon Mac release window is the latter half of October.

Given the pandemic the more realistic window is probaby mid-late November earliest. Apple was probably originally aiming in their initial plans for October. if the iPhones are sliding into October, there is no real creditable expectation that the Macs are not also sliding farther back. WWDC was late. The macOS these system will run on will be later than normal also.

Let's also remember that Apple did not refer to the new devices as ARM Macs. They specifically and repeatedly called them Apple Silicon. During the WWDC keynote, Apple made a great effort in not highlighting the Arm architecture. They were also very consciously vague about the GPU architecture during the keynote instead rather blandly using the "Apple Silicon" phrase to describe the entirety of the hardware.

That is just branding. The same reason Macs don't have an "intel Inside" stickers on them. ( of "AMD inside" stickers for GPU). Apple is trying to extent pushing the Apple brand. It is also a precursor to not being able to boot anything but Apple macOS.

 

[deconstruct60]

Hi
I have a quick question when the new ARM macs get release I am planning on buying a new Macbook pro the intel version but I hard rumors that it might be a macbook Pro getting release with the ARM based but I heard a 12 inch macbook as well but if the Macbook pro get release will they stop selling the intel all together or will Apple continue sell them for a limited of time?

First , which MacBook Pro? Apple has three MBP models : Two port 13” , four port 13” , and 16” model.
IMHO, it is extremely doubtful Apple wipes out all three in one shot. Highly doubtful they even do two of them . I suspect the one more at risk is the two port model . ( it got no substantive refresh besides some firmware tweaks ) .( 1. four Thunderbolt ports for Apple Silicon is probably a stretch for first AS out the gate . In fact , a no TB ports and solely USB Macbook would not be surprising at all . The MBP 13 would get a different , larger SoC sometime in 1st half 2021 after demand for A14 dies down and more wafers available )


Second , it is also somewhat doubtful that Apple is doing both a MBP 13 and a Macbook. ( not impossible but it would be surprising)

If Apple winks the MacBook back into the line up then they probably will not drop any of the other Intel Mac laptops . If Apple says this is the ‘new’ MBA or two port MBP then , yes they will very likely instantly drop the ‘old’ model. As Apple comes out with products with same name they are extremeky likely going to kill the Intel version .

That said. Apple Refurb and 3rd party retailers ( Amazon , BH photo , Best Buy , etc ) will probably have two port models for a while after Apple quickly stops selling them . The retail channel tends to have inventory the pragmatically Apple stuffed to them ( at least for common or standard configurations ). If you are looking for a MBP 13” with a somewhat exotic configuration that would be a more problematic buy after Apple turns off the production spigot .


If you need an Intel MBP 13” then get it in next month or so . trying to game the availability to get some kind of leverage has problems . The more BTO the config you need, the larger the downsides .

 

[romanof]

I don't see it until close to the end of the year. Apple HAS do do this right the first time. Later on, they can have some glitches, but if the first one out of the gate has major problems, their conversion efforts will be ten time tougher.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Announcement October, shipment November.

Pretty sure this is gonna nail it. First or second week of November.

 

[markiv810]

Man, my Mac mini only works in Safe Mode now. Waiting anxiously for arm based Mac mini. arm based MacBook would be my second choice.

 

[Jorbanead]

I believe the first AS Mac is going to be announced on either October 5-6 or October 12-13.

Why those dates? Apple never holds two events in one month (from my memory). So that means its either going to be October or early November. However, more importantly this is an election year in the US, and Apple will NOT want to compete with the election news cycle which will ramp up heavily late October - Early November. So that really only leaves them with the first two weeks of October to hold an event. After that, they risk losing momentum to the election, and late November is too late to announce their flagship phones before the holiday season.

Why AS Mac? For one, they said they were going to announce the first Mac by the end of the year. I really don't see them announcing something as monumental as an AS Mac in a press release. For two, If they already have an event lined up in October and they're planning on shipping in November, why not take that precious press time and announce both your flagship phone and the brand new AS Mac all at once. That way whenever someone clicks on an "New iPhone 12!" article they will surely hear about the new AS Mac that was also announced. You get double the press, and more exposure for the new Macs.

Normally the Mac doesn't need to be attached to another product (like how Apple Watch was always attached to the iPhone or iPad announcements) to get a big press boost. The Mac has legs on its own and can do just fine. BUT this year is different, and I think Apple needs to make it clear to the average consumer why their custom chips are so much better than the competition. WWDC was more for developers, but now they need to address the average consumer. The perfect time to do this is at the iPhone event when you already have millions of eyeballs watching.

 

[Yebubbleman]

What do you think?

October announcement (along with general availability of the x86-64 version of Big Sur); November launch. 24" iMac (bye-bye 21.5") and either MacBook Air (same size) or 13" MacBook Pro (bye-bye Intel 2-Port 13" MacBook Pro in either case).

 

[Yebubbleman]

I believe the first AS Mac is going to be announced on either October 5-6 or October 12-13.

Why those dates? Apple never holds two events in one month (from my memory). So that means its either going to be October or early November. However, more importantly this is an election year in the US, and Apple will NOT want to compete with the election news cycle which will ramp up heavily late October - Early November. So that really only leaves them with the first two weeks of October to hold an event. After that, they risk losing momentum to the election, and late November is too late to announce their flagship phones before the holiday season.

Why AS Mac? For one, they said they were going to announce the first Mac by the end of the year. I really don't see them announcing something as monumental as an AS Mac in a press release. For two, If they already have an event lined up in October and they're planning on shipping in November, why not take that precious press time and announce both your flagship phone and the brand new AS Mac all at once. That way whenever someone clicks on an "New iPhone 12!" article they will surely hear about the new AS Mac that was also announced. You get double the press, and more exposure for the new Macs.

Normally the Mac doesn't need to be attached to another product (like how Apple Watch was always attached to the iPhone or iPad announcements) to get a big press boost. The Mac has legs on its own and can do just fine. BUT this year is different, and I think Apple needs to make it clear to the average consumer why their custom chips are so much better than the competition. WWDC was more for developers, but now they need to address the average consumer. The perfect time to do this is at the iPhone event when you already have millions of eyeballs watching.

Apple has held two March events in the past. Also two October. It's not out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Jorbanead]

Apple has held two March events in the past. Also two October. It's not out of the realm of possibility.

When? Doesn’t look like it from this list:

List of Apple Inc. media events - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Feek]

I'm hoping for a new 12" MacBook with Apple Silicon to replace my 2016 model. Ideally it'd have a 500Gb SSD, 16Gb RAM and a retina screen.

 

[4sallypat]

I'm hoping for a new 12" MacBook with Apple Silicon to replace my 2016 model. Ideally it'd have a 500Gb SSD, 16Gb RAM and a retina screen.

Same here - I have the very first 2015 Macbook 12" CTO/BTO with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM that I want to replace but don't need to yet - the battery and performance is still very good.

Amazing after 5 years!

 

[SWAON]

AS announced November and launched in December for buy is my wild guess, since it's all speculative for now. I doubt they'll be mentioned in October event at all, so November is more likely.

 

[Feek]

I'm hoping for a new 12" MacBook with Apple Silicon to replace my 2016 model. Ideally it'd have a 500Gb SSD, 16Gb RAM and a retina screen.

Replying to myself.
I've ordered a new Air with 500Gb SSD and 16Gb RAM. The fanless design is what sold it to me.