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Apple Expected to Announce Arm-Based Mac Plans at WWDC, Transition Away From Intel to Begin in 2021

Tuesday June 9, 2020 5:56 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple plans to announce its upcoming shift to Arm-based Macs at its virtual WWDC event later this month, giving developers several months to prepare for the transition, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

The report claims that the first Arm-based Macs will be released in 2021, adding that Apple plans to eventually transition its entire lineup of Mac notebooks and desktops to the custom-designed processors. This lines up with a timeframe shared by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said Apple plans to release several Arm-based Macs starting next year.

Arm-based Macs are expected to have several advantages over existing Intel-based Macs, including faster performance and reduced power consumption. Apple would also no longer be at the mercy of Intel's development schedule.

Gurman reiterates that Apple is developing at least three Mac processors, with the first based on the A14 chip in upcoming iPhone 12 models. TSMC is expected to manufacture the Mac processors based on its advanced 5nm process.

Apple's first Mac processor is expected to have 12 cores, including eight high-performance cores and at least four energy-efficient cores. Apple is said to be exploring Mac processors with more than 12 cores for further in the future, with the company apparently designing a second generation of Mac processors based on the A15 chip.

WWDC 2020 begins the week of June 22 as an online-only event. Apple has promised a virtual keynote, where it is expected to introduce iOS 14 and other new software, and seemingly its Arm-based Mac plans too.

Tags: Mark Gurman, Apple Silicon Guide

Top Rated Comments

b13o0r12e3

24 weeks ago

Rewind to this, Steve's words still preach a decade on

Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Spanky Deluxe

I hope they only do this for low end macs. I use too many virtual machines for this ever to work for me professionally.

Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TechGod

Wow its finally happening. Exciting times.

Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ruka.snow

Arm co-processors please. Intel chips are too good for so many tasks. I don’t want to have to drop macOS for Linux.

Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)

iRun26.2

I wonder when my last purchase of a Apple laptop will be (right before they switch the MacBook Pros to ARM).

Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)

medee88

I’m a bit worried that the MacOS will turn even more into a “walled garden” with the transition to ARM. I’m sure there’s some smart folks working on it though, but wonder if the Mac will become like the iPad and iPhone where it’s harder to install apps that don’t explicitly come from the App Store.

As a software developer, I do wonder how all the Unix/bsd subsystems will be affected, but only time will tell. Looking forward to hearing the announcement (if it’s a correct rumor of course).

Somehow I think Intel will be around for quite some time. I can’t really imagine an ARM Mac Pro.

Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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