Apple has been using Intel chips in its Macs since 2006 when Steve Jobs and then Intel CEO Paul Otellini famously killed the PowerPC Macs at Macworld. At the time, Intel was booming with the “wintel” formula working out for it just perfectly. However, since the release of the iPhone, things have changed drastically with people using their phone more compared to their PC.
Smartphones don’t use Intel chips but rather ARM instruction set and Apple makes its own chips for the iPhone & iPad. The latest A12X chip found in the iPad Pro, according to Apple is faster than 95% of computers (PCs) in the world and benchmarks have been able to confirm the fact.
So there has been a lot of hype about the fact that Apple will soon shift from Intel chips to its own chips in the Mac. It’ll be a win for Apple as it will be able to release new Macs on its own schedule; the Mac releases have been very erratic, Apple has blamed Intel for poor Mac sales in the past. Intel has not been able to keep the famous “Moore’s law” going and has been hit with a processor shortage.
Interoperability is the dream
Apple has also been looking for ways to make its different platforms work together. It first started with iCloud, then Continuity and now apps that work on both Mac & iOS. The company has been working hard to make it easier for developers to port their apps to the Mac. However, since both the platforms use different types of CPUs, it still ain’t that simple. If Macs do indeed use ARM chips in the future, porting iOS apps to the Mac could turn into an even simpler task.
According to analysts, Apple could make the dream of “Macs armed with ARM chips” a reality in 2020 or 2021.But before that, Apple is rumoured to launch a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a new keyboard design in September 2019, alongside the iPhone 11.
