iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On 'Hey Siri'

[MacRumors]

According to some digging into Apple's "BridgeOS 2.0" code and macOS this weekend by Jonathan Levin, Steven Troughton-Smith, and Guilherme Rambo, the upcoming iMac Pro appears to feature an A10 Fusion chip with 512 MB of RAM. While the full functionality of the A10 chip isn't yet known, it appears the chip will enable support for "Hey Siri" functionality, potentially even when the iMac Pro is turned off.

As noted by Troughton-Smith, the A10 will manage the booting process and security for the iMac Pro, and with hooks into system audio, he theorized that the chip might support always-on "Hey Siri."

Confirmed: "Hey, Siri" is coming to the Mac pic.twitter.com/Dw9bRAzbxD - Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 18, 2017

The "Hey Siri" theory was quickly confirmed by Rambo, who shared both a boot chime for BridgeOS and the setup process for "Hey Siri" discovered within macOS.

BridgeOS has a boot chime sound pic.twitter.com/ofupY9RZt8 - Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 18, 2017

Rumors of ARM-based chips being included in Macs have been circulating for some time, and with the T1 chip appearing in the MacBook Pro to drive the Touch Bar last year, the rumor began coming to fruition. The T1 was just the first step in the process, however, with Bloomberg reporting in February that a custom "T310" ARM-based Mac chip similar to the T1 could be included in future Macs and take on some additional functionality such as handling "Power Nap" low-power mode functionality.

In June, Pike's Universum reported that the upcoming iMac Pro will include a Secure Enclave, suggesting the machine would indeed include an ARM-based coprocessor as on the MacBook Pro.

Unveiled at WWDC in June, the iMac Pro is scheduled to launch next month, but Apple has yet to give a specific launch date for the high-end desktop that will start at $4999.

Article Link: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On 'Hey Siri'

 

[Appleaker]

That is really cool.

The first Mac with an A-series processor in is coming earlier than any of us imagined! Of course this is different, but it’d be interesting to see it used for other things like app development (iOS emulation).

This was the always way they were going to be used in Macs (i.e. as a coprocessor) in the near future, with the exception of the 12” MacBook where I wouldn’t be surprised if it replaced the current Intel chips.

 

[magicschoolbus]

And so it begins.

 

[itsmilo]

Literally forgot macOS has Siri until this post

 

[tipoo]

Woah, big news. I wonder if it'll take over any other functions like sleep?

 

[acctman]

bring on the Mac Mini update

 

[c0ppo]

Siri? Useless on iPhone, so why would I use it on a 'pro' machine?

 

[ersan191]

Hey Siri has worked since the A8, I don’t think it has an A10 just for this feature - there’s something more to this.

 

[SamRyouji]

I guess Apple will plants ARM chips to coexist with Intel chips instead of replacing it to provides us with more capabilities.
I think this marks the first step towards a more exciting future for Apple. And us obviously.

 

[themachugger]

That's cool. Unfortunately I've relegated Siri to little more than setting a timer countdown when I make my coffee in the morning. It's the only Siri request that doesn't make me want to shove my iPhone in the garbage disposal out of frustration.

 

[mistasopz]

I wish you could completely uninstall Siri from osx and iOS. And I don't mean just disable it. It's the most useless voice assistant in my opinion and it irks me that it takes up space.

 

[SamRyouji]

Siri? Useless on iPhone, so why would I use it on a 'pro' machine?

Just turn it off. Easy peasy.

 

[pierce1979]

Hey Siri has worked since the A8, I don’t think it has an A10 just for this feature - there’s something more to this.

Agreed, this is a very powerful chip just for Siri.

 

[tipoo]

I hope they kept some more secrets and it has FaceID too.

 

[vtrautia]

A-series will do lot more than than just 'Hey Siri'. We just to know what...

 

[BootsWalking]

That's an incredibly powerful CPU to run just a "Hey Siri" interface. It would be nice if they also allowed the A10 to run iOS. They could use for an "internet appliance" mode that boots instantly and lets you run Safari without concern for viruses. Throw in App store compatibility and you'd have a killer iOS/Mac OS convergence device.

 

[c0ppo]

Just turn it off. Easy peasy.

Yup. Turned off long time ago

 

[Lesser Evets]

“Hey Siri... stop letting invasive letter agencies listen to me all the time.”

Siri: “no.”

 

[PBRsg]

Is it running a sandbox for iOS apps? This could be useful for both developers and users.

 

[0815]

Native iOS apps

 

[McFreggle]

Apples Siri-centered home anno 2018.

Hey Siri!

"Yeah?" said the iPhone
"Wazzup?" said the Apple Watch
"What?" said the HomePod
"Can I help you?" said the iPad
"What do you need me to do?" said the iMac
"Yo!" said the Apple TV

All at once, of course

 

[lunarworks]

And here I was just thinking about how the MacBook Pro's integrated ARM chip, used for Touch ID and the touchbar, could be upgraded to include the AI and machine learning features of the A11 Fusion chip...

 

[Velli]

Overlooking the obvious: Face ID.

 

[unobtainium]

The features pros truly crave. /s

 

[alvindarkness]

A separate processor that has access to your microphone even when your compuer is off isnt creepy in the slightest.