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

[JosephAW]

I'm assuming macOS is still leading a double life not only for ARM but they are still maintaining the PowerPC builds just in case because of the cell technology and Power5-9 chipsets and speeds over 5Ghz.

 

[Rogifan]

I always assumed the fanless MacBook would be the perfect candidate for an ARM Mac but perhaps Apple really wants to show this is for professionals so will announce something much more powerful, I wonder if they will keep the same names or if the ARM Macs will get new names.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I’m on board. Hopefully the first one is a MacBook or MacBook Air. Although at 12 cores we’re probably looking at a high end device.

 

[JacobHarvey]

If they go all ARM - desktop wise (i.e. iMacs) I'll probably be staying far far away from that stuff from now on. Most likely just going to go with AMD (or Intel if they ever get their **** together again) CPUs and nVidia/AMD GPUs running Windows/Linux for those needs in the future.

Mobile wise - Macbooks etc. will be very very interesting and I'll keenly follow what they'll be able to achieve a few years down the track from this transition

 

[aknabi]

If this transition means more affordable Macs across the board, I’m in!

Probably not... more likely this transition means more margin Macs across the board

 

[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.

 

[iRun26.2]

Well then... I was going to get the 13" 10th gen model but now I guess I am going to wait to see what the ARM processors can do

It almost seems to me that if you want an ARM based MacBook over a MacBook Pro you should not have been considering the MacBook Pro in the first place. A MacBook Air might probably be just fine for you.

 

[B4U]

So, does that mean Apple will FINALLY have less SW issues?

 

[AngerDanger]

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.

Now the WWDC graphic makes even more sense as a MacBook.

 

[MacLawyer]

Will regulators now insist that Apple spin off its processor business because:

1. Business model too vertical, and

2. Its proprietary processors will far outstrip the PC choices, resulting in an unfair advantage? (Looking at you, EU)

 

[azentropy]

Random guessing here, but iPad Pro makes sense as a dev transition kit. Has a keyboard, touch, trackpad, A12X/Z chip and perhaps there will be a special image of macOS for it. It's also portable. A G5 Tower made sense in 2005, but my guess is they'd want this to be portable.

I'm thinking it will be a Mac mini this time, or maybe even an AppleTV sized device.

 

[progx]

Hell, Microsoft has an ARM based Surface and Windows can run on it as well. Though, it isn’t the same. Starting to wonder if x86 days are beginning to be numbered. Aren’t the majority of Chromebooks ARM-based machines?

Apple has been developing their ARM processors for quite some time. I’ll wait and see, it’s not like Intel has been blowing the minds of Windows users lately. Since AMD has been bearing down on them with Ryzen line, it seems they were caught when they were too comfortable.

 

[aziatiklover]

Damn it, I just bought an Intel Mac mini, too (my first Mac). They'd better not make it "obsolete" soon!

It won't! If you have spec it right from the start. I still have the 2018 model fully loaded with the max ram and it is a beast for what I do.

 

[cthart]

It kind of feels like PowerPC all over again. The general public will not be able to understand how it compares performance-wise with intel chips. They didn’t with the 68xxx series or PPC series, why would they with the ARM series?

The general public really doesn't care what brand of CPU is inside their computer. They will however love a laptop with a much longer battery life -- or a much lighter laptop with the same battery life as their old heavy laptop.

 

[coumerelli]

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

This makes me really miss Steve and the way he presented. Especially in hindsight it really shows how he works and loved what he did. Even from day one I thought Tim was putting on some sort of show or was being forced to be on stage. His mind might be right for the job, but his stage presence does not exude greatness like Steve.

 

[cthart]

If any company can pull this off it's Apple. This will be the 4th CPU architecture for their Macs

 

[hailey bee]

If ARM laptops would not burn your lap, then it is easy to sell. I just hope they go out, beg, and support every developer to transition sooner. Performance of Apple ARM chips is very promising.

 

[JosephAW]

Those of us who purchased the last G5 PowerMac in 2005 didn't receive the four OS X future versions that other Macs received in the past. There should have been a 64 bit Snow Leopard version for the PowerPC since that was the last solid OS X version until Mountain Lion and El Capitan.

 

[frou]

Will be amusing for the product lineup when some 12" MacBook has noticably better single-core performance than the Mac Pro tower.

 

[nwcs]

The general public really doesn't care what brand of CPU is inside their computer. They will however love a laptop with a much longer battery life -- or a much lighter laptop with the same battery life as their old heavy laptop.

Battery life is good but people want simple comparable metrics. Battery life alone won’t be the differentiator. You’re thinking the third time’s the charm. I’m thinking they’re repeating their pattern of going it alone and hoping for the best.

 

[dspdoc]

I wonder what this is going to do to the 7,1 MP? I sense things are about to get very messy. Here we go, PPC to Intel nightmare all over again. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Chaszmyr]

For those of you worried about virtualization, your concerns may be valid. For those of you worried about performance, I think you can safely assume that Apple wouldn't be doing this if it meant performance was going to suffer.

 

[Digital Dude]

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

Still have my 'the' first Intel-based MacBook, and it still looks new. I miss those days where the CEO was involved in the products and understood the concepts.

 

[Abazigal]

SJ goes on to say that Mac is set for the next twenty years with this transition. Using that timetable we were expecting the next transition to start in 2026. So if we start in 2021 and finish in 2022 that would shave off 5 years from SJ vision. Then the next transition away from the ARM in will happen in 2036 to the next architecture.

Even if Apple stops producing intel Macs overnight, they are still obligated to support the existing Macs with software updates for the next 6-7 years at least. I don’t think it’s good PR for someone who bought a top-of-the-line Mac Pro or MBP to be told that they are not getting any more updates to the OS.

Officially ending support for Intel Macs in 2026 sounds about right.

 

[maflynn]

I'm genuinely interested in what their plans are, while I've have left the Mac fold, I'm curious to see how this unfolds, especially given that they just rolled out a Mac Pro that can cost upwards of 40,000 and more.