Apple’s mighty Blitzkrieg to dominate the future

The first step in moving the entire Mac family from Intel to Apple Silicon is underway. The move to ARM still has a number of initial problems to overcome, but the wide sweep is successful. Tim Cook’s Apple won’t stop there, and the latest leaks reveal the powerful updates to come.

The new details come via Bloomberg and lay out Apple’s plans for the Apple Silicon line, with two new chip designs expected to launch in 2021. Mark Gurman and Ian King report:

“Chip engineers at the Cupertino, California-based tech giant are working on several successors to the custom M1 chip, Apple’s first Mac mainframe processor that debuted in November. If they meet expectations, they will significantly outperform smartphones. latest machines running Intel chips, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the plans are not yet public. “

It’s important to remember that despite all the power that the current M1 processor shows through synthetic benchmarks and real-world tests, this chip will be the slowest Apple Silicon ever. To be sure, the gains on the next chip won’t be the same generational leap that Apple has demonstrated between the Intel Core x86 configuration on MacBooks and the M1 configuration, but there will be plenty of gains.

It’s also important to note that M1 processors are built into Apple’s slower, lower machines. While there is a chip inside the MacBook Pro, the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro release effectively divided the Pro line into ‘consumer all-rounder’ and ‘professional high-end’. It is the former that has the M1 chip, while the latter still uses power from Intel.

For now.

It’s safe to assume that Apple’s launch of its Apple Silicon chipsets has been well planned in advance. While the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will continue to be felt throughout 2021, it is unlikely to have a seriously disruptive impact on plans, although launch dates for some equipment could be delayed; I could easily see any late first trimester events move into the second trimester where the health of the world could be better.

A small bump on the M1 is likely next. The putative M1X processor would fit nicely in the ‘high-end’ 13-inch MacBook Pro next year, and in all likelihood would be the best fit for an iMac upgrade. But it’s the next iteration that could ‘seal the deal’ for Apple, as the iMac Pro and Mac get all the benefits of the ARM-based Apple Silicon.

I hope it increases the cores in the processors, with more dedicated high-performance features that may be “available” as needed. The Bloomberg report suggests that 16- and 32-core processors are in the works for a possible release in late 2021. It’s likely the M2 of the same name, designed for computers like the iMac Pro and Mac Pro.

Beyond that, how about a monster processor with 64, or even 128, cores? These will be reserved as the highest of the high-end machines, and once you add in Apple’s tax, it will be an expensive computer, perhaps even more than the currently available $ 55,000 Mac Pro.

That may seem like a steep cost, but as a one-time investment for a machine that will likely save you noticeable time on intensive tasks such as exporting 4K or 8K video or complicated graphical rendering work to think of two – the higher cost would be welcome. recovered in a short time.

The Apple Silicon Mac Pro, when it arrives, will create a huge halo effect. It is likely to post incredibly high performance figures compared to other computers available to consumers, even if very few are sold. The benefit for Apple is much further ahead. The power of the Mac Pro will act as a high-level call-up of the entire new Mac project. Consumers will see this main feature, but they will also notice the easier-to-understand things … longer battery, faster machine, and smaller laptop.

Today’s MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini computers are impressive, but they’re still little more than the previous generation of tech, albeit with the new benchmark processor. Consider these machines the first real test in public view; I know what I do. Once everything is approved, the taps will open.

At that point things are going to get… interesting.

Now read more about the planned 2021 update of the MacBook Air …