Apple has officially confirmed that it will be releasing new Macs with its own silicon chips. The Cupertino company plans to release its first Apple ARM-based Mac by the end of this year.
“From the beginning, the Mac has always embraced big changes to stay at the forefront of personal computing. Today we’re announcing our transition to Apple silicon, making this a historic day for the Mac. With its powerful features and industry-leading performance, Apple silicon will make the Mac stronger and more capable than ever. I’ve never been more excited about the future of the Mac” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
Apple expects the transition from Intel processors to its own silicon chips to complete in two years. Apple also announced the next version of macOS called Big Sur. The new update will include technologies that ensure a smooth transition to Apple silicon. The interesting point here is that with the transition to Apple’s own chips, developers will be able to optimize iOS and iPadOS to run natively with the MacOS. Apple mentions that the new SoCs for the future line-up of Macs are based on the scalable architecture that is custom designed for Apple iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch. Developers will be able to create pro-based applications and high-end games for the platform, along with the use of Neural Engine as a promising platform for machine learning.
During the event, Apple demonstrated macOS Big Sur running on the company’s first silicon called the A12Z Bionic chip. Apple showcased the performance of the new silicon running apps like Excel sheets and Adobe Photoshop. Apple also showcased a bit of gaming where they ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p resolution with the help of the Rosetta 2 emulation software. This is quite impressive because we are actually looking at an x86 based game running on an ARM chip via emulation.
While Apple is working to release the ARM-based Macs later this year, Tim Cook also mentioned that they plan to officially announce new Intel-based Macs later this year. It’s no surprise since leaks are already out regarding the newly designed and upgraded Apple iMacs. Tim Cook also pointed out that Apple will continue to support Intel-based Macs with the new Big Sur macOS.
