Apple plans Mac with 5nm 12-core ARM chip by 2021, Bloomberg says

Apple plans Mac with 5nm 12-core ARM chip by 2021, Bloomberg says

Apple plans to launch its first ARM Mac in 2021, according to information released by Bloomberg today. Mark Gurman examines the details he introduced a few days ago and provides a series of data of great interest. All of this indicates that after years of effort, Apple will make the leap into the most important area of ​​processors to date.

A Mac with an ARM processor based on the A14 chip

He’s working on three new proprietary processors for Macs called SoCs based on the iPhone’s upcoming A14 processor. The first of these will be much faster than the processor on iPhone and iPad, according to sources.

One of these processors will run on a Mac with an estimated launch date of 2021. The existence of various models of this chip indicates Apple’s interest in introducing its own chip in more than one family of computers running macOS. This project is called internally Kalamata, a name that refers to the Greek city and also to a variety of olives.

This processor is said to be based on the A14 chip which will likely debut in the next generation iPhone 12 and iPad Pro. Its manufacturing process based on 5nm technology, compared to the second generation 7nm of the current A13 Bionic. The publication guarantees that TSMC will be in charge of its large-scale manufacturing, as is the case with the company’s other orders.

As for the number of cores, Apple would bet big. The A13 Bionic currently has eight processors: four high performance and four energy efficient. This allows you to adapt the power and consumption to the actual demand of the device. Well, the first of the ARM chips for Mac will have 12 cores in total, of which eight will be performance and four will be efficiency.

According to Gurman, the number of cores will double or quadruple that of some computers with an Intel processor. Currently, Apple markets equipment such as the MacBook Air with two seeds, with eight seeds like the MacBook Pro and with up to 28 seeds in the case of Mac Pro. Of course, it should be noted that these are different architectures and that a coeur we are not equal to another coeur The other.

Intel independence and unification of the ecosystem

Apple computers mount Intel processors since 2005. With the arrival of Apple-designed processors on the original iPad in 2010, rumors started about a Mac with its own chip. It’s a rumor old man, but that in recent years, they have only piled up.

The main reasons that push Apple to turn to its own solution would be two. The first, disclose information and its irregular development cycles in recent years. Such a large component of third-party desktops represents a business risk.

The first ARM-based Mac will be a portable model, slated for launch in 2021

The equipment upgrades that took place years ago and were increasingly spaced out were partly blamed on Intel. A separate chip would allow Apple depend only on herself, putting more frequent internal renovations on the table. The second reason is related to the development and unification environments of the application ecosystem.

Currently, it is already possible to buy applications on an iPhone and have lists IPadOS and macOS versions. Plus, Apple has Project Catalyst, so developers can build Mac apps from an existing iPad with much less effort. A single chip architecture would allow better use of synergies between the different platforms.

So there’s still a whole year to reveal Apple’s first ARM machine. By then, the company will make all of its plans public.

Source: Appleinsider