Apple may ditch Intel CPUs for Macs starting from 2020

[D13H4RD]

Well, this is interesting but not entirely unexpected.

 

Reports are surfacing that Apple may be considering dropping Intel CPUs for future Macs and going with an in-house design for new Macs starting from the year 2020.

 

Quote

In 2005, Hell froze over. After repeatedly doubling down on the PowerPC G4 and G5, with its laptops effectively stuck on older 32-bit PowerPC chips, Apple announced it would build future desktops and laptops around the Intel x86 standard. When the first laptops rolled out on Intel hardware, it was immediately clear Apple had made the right decision. Crippled by the older G4, even the fastest pre-Intel Mac laptops were no match for x86. Intel took over Apple’s CPU market and has maintained its lock ever since.

But now that’s changing, if Bloomberg is to be believed, and Apple will reportedly transition away from Intel silicon altogether and towards its own custom solutions for iOS and macOS both, beginning in 2020. As a move, this falls somewhere between “A long time coming” and “Hell just froze over, AGAIN.”

Source: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/266773-apple-may-dump-intel-starting-2020-favor-cpu-designs

 

Given Apple's recent advancements in the mobile SoC space, especially with the A10 and A11's custom ARM-based CPU cores delivering incredible performance along with the A11 featuring an in-house GPU design, it is not entirely implausible that Apple may be developing a processor for their Mac lineup.

 

This raises 3 key questions though. What architecture will Apple be basing this on? How will app developers make the transition so that their macOS apps work without major hiccups? And does this mean a converging platform is on its way?

 

Still too early to tell but this is probably the most interesting bit of Apple news I've heard in a long while.

[Theguywhobea]

It would be neat to see some mainstream adoption of ARM based CPU's in the desktop/laptop world.

[Levent]

lol, apple seems to be taking a turn for worse, how would that even make sense use ARM architecture on PC's? making things harder for developers doesnt make things better for users.

[D13H4RD]

Just now, Levent said:

lol, apple seems to be taking a turn for worse, how would that even make sense use ARM architecture on PC's? making things harder for developers doesnt make thing better.

It's supposedly because they weren't happy with Intel's lack of progress on the CPU front.

 

Moving apps over from x86 to ARM is always a challenge, but it's still early days. And it is still a rumor, so nothing has been fully confirmed yet

[Okjoek]

Aren't there patents by Intel or AMD keeping Apple from making their own chips? I honestly think Patents are too powerful. They are what make innovation suffer.

[Blademaster91]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

It's supposedly because they weren't happy with Intel's lack of progress on the CPU front.

 

Moving apps over from x86 to ARM is always a challenge, but it's still early days. And it is still a rumor, so nothing has been fully confirmed yet

Intel's lack of progress? Apple hasn't even updated their laptops to Intel 8th gen yet.

3 minutes ago, Levent said:

lol, apple seems to be taking a turn for worse, how would that even make sense use ARM architecture on PC's? making things harder for developers doesnt make things better for users.

That would make it more difficult for users unless Apple would make all their apps compatible without having to buy new software.

[GoodBytes]

This rumor started since Apple was making its own ARM based CPU for its iPhone.

Every year it is being talked about.

 

I guess now it is becoming more possible thanks that Microsoft showed Windows 10 running on ARM, which is said to runs fine... until you run x86 programs which runs OK'ish, for a similar priced Intel based CPU. But Microsoft had to equip the fastest ARM SoC it can get its hands on. So we will need to wait for these devices to come out and see reviews. But maybe in the few years it will viable alternatives for most people, especially if a mid tier SoC has the capabilities needed to give a decent experience, and while being cheaper than Intel... Then again, Intel could restructure and decide to drop making its massive profits, and cut the price of its CPUs deeply.

[GoodBytes]

@D13H4RD2L1V3

Your entry is fine. It is the first one in the Tech News section and that is what matters.

To bad for the other for not doing a good job, or was not fast enough to correct their entries.

We don't care about sub forums entries. 

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Intel's lack of progress? Apple hasn't even updated their laptops to Intel 8th gen yet.

Possibly because they're waiting for the H variant for the MBP

 

 

[D13H4RD]

3 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

This rumor started since Apple was making its own ARM based CPU for its iPhone.

Every year it is being talked about.

 

I guess now it is becoming more possible thanks that Microsoft showed Windows 10 running on ARM, which is said to runs fine... until you run x86 programs which runs OK'ish, for a similar priced Intel based CPU. But Microsoft had to equip the fastest ARM SoC it can get its hands on. So we will need to wait for these devices to come out and see reviews. But maybe in the few years it will viable alternatives for most people, especially if a mid tier SoC has the capabilities needed to give a decent experience, and while being cheaper than Intel... Then again, Intel could restructure and decide to drop making its massive profits, and cut the price of its CPUs deeply.

Yeah, it's more of a possibility now than before.

 

But challenges still remain. The only thing I can reasonably say is to wait and see

[GoldenLag]

5 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

Aren't there patents by Intel or AMD keeping Apple from making their own chips? I honestly think Patents are too powerful. They are what make innovation suffer.

Apple could probably get the patent for x86 through buying or merging a compnay who's name ive forgotten, but they need to get AMD's x64 patent. AMD and Intel crossliscense it. There are ways they could make their "own" chips by offering juicy contracts to AMD. Other than that Apple only option seems to create ARM cpu's. Patants do make inovation suffer, however they are good for the company who has invested in the tech and stops the other companies from blatantly copying them. 

[JoostinOnline]

Doesn't Thunderbolt require an Intel CPU? I don't know much about it, but I thought it was a cooperative project between Apple and Intel. 

[Zando_]

Just now, Tedny said:

Hasn't Apple do it in early 2000 and it fails? 

that was IBM's PPC chips, not in house designed ones IIRC. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

22 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Apple could probably get the patent for x86 through buying or merging a compnay who's name ive forgotten, but they need to get AMD's x64 patent. AMD and Intel crossliscense it. There are ways they could make their "own" chips by offering juicy contracts to AMD. Other than that Apple only option seems to create ARM cpu's. Patants do make inovation suffer, however they are good for the company who has invested in the tech and stops the other companies from blatantly copying them. 

VIA, and I believe their licence is nontransferrable

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

17 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Doesn't Thunderbolt require an Intel CPU? I don't know much about it, but I thought it was a cooperative project between Apple and Intel. 

It used to but not anymore I think for TB3

[D13H4RD]

3 minutes ago, Tedny said:

Hasn't Apple do it in early 2000 and it fails? 

They were PowerPC-based

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Tedny said:

Oh, Apple will clone Intel chips, not making new chips 

that would end up in them getting sued and in massive trouble since Intel owns all the copyrights and patents for their chips...

[Syntaxvgm]

1 hour ago, Okjoek said:

Aren't there patents by Intel or AMD keeping Apple from making their own chips? I honestly think Patents are too powerful. They are what make innovation suffer.

Bro don't doubt Apple's will to go ARM then tell their professional customers to eat a dick like always. 

[Blademaster91]

37 minutes ago, Tedny said:

Oh, Apple will clone Intel chips, not making new chips 

Apple couldn't reverse engineer an X86 cpu from AMD or Intel legally, but it could be possible to get a custom chip or a special version of Ryzen from AMD.

1 hour ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Possibly because they're waiting for the H variant for the MBP

 

True, apple wants lower TDP versions exclusive to their hardware which does take Intel more time to manufacture. An ARM cpu couldn't replace their pro tier of laptops, though they could maybe start with the Macbook Air. Being compatible with the app store and an all day battery is all most would care about. Although Apple doesn't really care about screwing over their enthusiast or pro customers when they have taken away useful ports from the pro laptops.

 

[D13H4RD]

30 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

True, apple wants lower TDP versions exclusive to their hardware which does take Intel more time to manufacture. An ARM cpu couldn't replace their pro tier of laptops, though they could maybe start with the Macbook Air. Being compatible with the app store and an all day battery is all most would care about. Although Apple doesn't really care about screwing over their enthusiast or pro customers when they have taken away useful ports from the pro laptops.

 

It may start with the current 12” MacBook

[GoldenLag]

1 hour ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

VIA, and I believe their licence is nontransferrable

VIA. Apple could however fund a CPU devision within AMD through a contract. They would be specially designed chips made in cooperation with Apple. We could then see a speedup in the Mobile department at AMD.

 

Apple has the money to go through AMD to get their own chips

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, GoldenLag said:

VIA. Apple could however fund a CPU devision within AMD through a contract. They would be specially designed chips made in cooperation with Apple. We could then see a speedup in the Mobile department at AMD.

 

Apple has the money to go through AMD to get their own chips

Possible. More likely they'll just build an x86 compatibility layer into MacOS and use ARM CPUs. Transmeta Crusoe anyone?

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

It may start with the current 12” MacBook

I think an Macbook Air ARM edition would be well recieved. They arent powerfull devices to begin with and the extra batterylife that those chips offer would be tasty for students and other on the go customers

[Drak3]

2 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

Intel's lack of progress? Apple hasn't even updated their laptops to Intel 8th gen yet.

Until today, there was no reason to downgrade to 8th gen chips. Now, there is an upgrade to the 7700HQ+. Still only downgrades for the 13" models, given their L4 cache and beefier iGPU.

[Commodus]

I'm curious as to whether or not Apple would switch to ARM or just work on its own x86 processors.  ARM makes the most sense based on its experience and compatibility with iOS, but it'd be funny if Apple did to x86 what it did to ARM and find a way to offer consistently better performance with the same base architecture.

 

And I'm not sure which one would give Intel the greater heart attack... switching to a different architecture, or developing x86 in a way that makes Intel look like it's slacking.  There's been this nagging sense that Intel leads the x86 world not because it's the best you could possibly get, but because it's the default.