Intel Restates Support for Apple During Transition to Apple Silicon

[MacRumors]

Apple on Monday confirmed its widely rumored plan to switch from Intel processors to custom silicon for its Macs, promising "incredible" performance and features.

In a statement given to AppleInsider, Intel promised to continue supporting the Mac through its transition but insisted that its processors are still the best option for developers.

"Apple is a customer across several areas of business and we will continue to support them," said an Intel spokesperson.

"Intel remains focused on delivering the most advanced PC experiences and a wide range of technology choices that redefine computing. We believe Intel-powered PCs — like those based on our forthcoming Tiger Lake mobile platform — provide global customers the best experience in the areas they value most, as well as the most open platform for developers, both today and into the future."

Building on its industry-leading A-series chips for iPhones and iPads, Apple wants Macs with its custom silicon to have the highest performance with lower power usage. Apple says the vast majority of Mac apps can be quickly updated to be "universal" with support for both Intel-based Macs and those with Apple's custom silicon.

Apple said that it expects its first Mac with custom silicon to launch by the end of 2020, and it expects to transition its entire lineup within the next two years. "We plan to continue to support and release new versions of Mac OS for Intel-based Macs for years to come," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Developers can apply for a special Mac mini with an A12Z chip inside to help prepare their apps for Apple's custom silicon. This custom Mac mini will be running the macOS Big Sur beta and the latest version of Xcode.

On a related note, readers hoping to see imminent benchmarks of the Apple Silicon-powered Mac mini may be out of luck. Apple's terms and conditions for developers receiving the machines explicitly forbid benchmark tests on the Developers Transition Kit unless separately authorized by Apple.

Article Link: Intel Restates Support for Apple During Transition to Apple Silicon

 

[Nozuka]

Apple likely still has tons of Intel hardware in their datacenters too....

 

[JosephAW]

Don't be surprised if this relationship deteriorated rapidly, especially when silicon units start shipping from Apple.

 

[moabal]

I mean.... what else are they going to say publicly?

 

[Macusercom]

To be fair you can get an idea of the A12Z's performance by looking at the iPad Pro 2020 lineup though I guess it might be capable of more performance on an actively cooled Mac.

 

[simonmet]

Lol. Rejected! And deservedly so!

 

[kazmac]

Well, Intel has no other choice at the moment. With their competition stepping up to the plate, they have to continue support and try to save face.

 

[maflynn]

Typical corporate speak, they really have no choice to say that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[iBluetooth]

The A12Z is a testing kit using current iPad CPU. They specifically stated that they were working on new chips designed for mac, so this is only for testing running code.

 

[dmyers7]

Lets be honest, the A12x is not what is going into their desktops; they have something else in the pipeline that will blow the pants off even that for laptops and desktops. I agree that active cooling will help greatly. We know what the A12x can do without cooling; but they have something monumental when it comes to your next MacBook Pro. Something so good you will want to upgrade; it won't be marginal. This is a big step to move code away for Intel native and the ecosystem that already exists; it needs to be worth it besides saving $$ on Intel silicon.

 

[farewelwilliams]

intel restates their stock is still relevant

 

[PCMA]

I have complete confidence in Tim Cook's ability to manage this important transition smoothly.

 

[JosephAW]

IBM didn't give such a promise to Apple but adjusted their strategy roadmap. It was a good move for IBM as well to drop custom silicon for Apple and focus on the Power and Cell technology for non desktops and has paid off with advance RISC speed and performance rivaling the x86 platform.

 

[Michael Scrip]

In any given quarter there might be 5 million Macs sold.

But there could be 60 million Intel-powered Windows PCs sold in that same quarter.

Even though Apple has a tendency to buy only higher-end chips from Intel... I don't think this will affect Intel too much.

Intel has bigger problems than losing Apple as a customer.

 

[jezbd1997]

Lets be honest, the A12x is not what is going into their desktops; they have something else in the pipeline that will blow the pants off even that for laptops and desktops. I agree that active cooling will help greatly. We know what the A12x can do without cooling; but they have something monumental when it comes to your next MacBook Pro. Something so good you will want to upgrade; it won't be marginal.

We know this already, the only purpose in the Mac mini with A12Z is so devs can test on actual arm hardware. The full fledged Mac chips will be crazy powerful

 

[thequietaussie]

Even though Apple has a tendency to buy only higher-end chips from Intel... I don't think this will affect Intel too much.

The damage to Intel is not necessarily the loss of Apple's immediate business. But the long-term, cumulative effect of a growing movement away from x86, and the industry's reliance on Intel as a whole.

 

[Krizoitz]

Don't be surprised if this relationship deteriorated rapidly, especially when silicon units start shipping from Apple.

Doubtful. Apple makes up a small percentage of Intels overall processor sales and there is little to no chance Apple will start sharing its processors with any other company.
Intel would probably prefer if Apple still used their chips too but there are upsides to this for Intel, such as not having to support macOS down the line. They’ll probably continue to provide other chips to Apple to like USB controllers, WiFi chips, etc.

 

[yurc]

In any given quarter there might be 5 million Macs sold.

But there could be 60 million Intel-powered Windows PCs sold in that same quarter.

Even though Apple has a tendency to buy only higher-end chips from Intel... I don't think this will affect Intel too much.

Intel has bigger problems than losing Apple as a customer.

Partially agree. Intel shouldn’t worry too much even when Apple leave Intel completely in future years. Perhaps only AMD who can really kick Intel ass hard.

We know this already, the only purpose in the Mac mini with A12Z is so devs can test on actual arm hardware. The full fledged Mac chips will be crazy powerful

Unless current ARM have capability multi thread raw beast power similar like Threadripper/Epic/Xeon. Current Apple A12Z is only strong at single burst, one threaded operation and low battery usage. Sure Apple can design monster chips, but it probably takes times.

 

[5097842]

The performance of Tomb Raider downloaded unaltered from the Mac App store was a great example of how well thought out this transition is. If an Intel-compiled game performs so well on Apple Silicon, I can't wait to see what native apps can do.

 

[timber]

Translation

"Apple is a customer across several areas of business and we will continue to support them," said an Intel spokesperson.

Yeah, we just took a broadside the size of the Eiffel Tower but we will keep trying to make a dime.

"Intel remains focused on delivering the most advanced PC experiences and a wide range of technology choices that redefine computing. We believe Intel-powered PCs — like those based on our forthcoming Tiger Lake mobile platform — provide global customers the best experience in the areas they value most, as well as the most open platform for developers, both today and into the future."

Our CPUs have been really sucking hard but everybody still uses them so we hope we will be fine.

 

[nutjob]

Intel who?

 

[MauiPa]

I mean.... what else are they going to say publicly?

Especially knowing that any manufacturer could ditch intel for AMD and get better chips anyway.

 

[il_teo77]

Careful choice of words from Apple and Intel to avoid a stop of Intel Mac sales as well as Intel stock tanking (because of the "image" associated with Apple, not so much because of sales). It surely stings for Intel to be told "you're not good enough". Or maybe it was something along the lines of "it's not you, it's me".

 

[DimaVR]

Intel in mac will be supported atleast for another 5 years! They have 60k$ Mac Pro with intel Xeon out and still selling for high powered video editing and all that everyone relax! We will ok for a long time!

 

[Tekguy0]

I'm surprised that Apple didn't ditch Intel for AMD in the 13" Pro. Would have been great to have an APU with more graphical power and more battery life.