Apple begins a twoyear plan to dump Intel

Apple will phase out its use of Intel CPUs for ARM hardware in its Macs.

It is no longer a matter of if Apple will make a switch from using Intel hardware to ARM-based processors for its Mac lineup, but when, and the answer is soon... very soon. Apple made the announcement at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), saying it is embarking on a two-year transition to its own custom silicon, calling it a “truly historic day for the Mac.”

To be clear, the transition is already well underway. Apple will ship the first Mac with “Apple silicon” inside by the end of the year, some 15 years after making the switch from IBM’s PowerPC hardware to Intel’s x86 processors. That will be the beginning of the transition period.

“With its powerful features and industry-leading performance, Apple silicon will make the Mac stronger and more capable than ever. I’ve never been more excited about the future of the Mac,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

One of the reasons why Apple is moving away from Intel hardware is because it is seeking to establish a common architecture across its various product lines. The iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch all run on custom designs based on ARM hardware, and soon so will the Mac. But commonality is not the only reason. According to Apple, CPU performance in the iPhone has improved by over 100x over the past decade. Likewise, Apple says the latest iPad Pro delivers 1,000x better GPU performance compared to the original iPad.

“The iPad Pro is faster than the vast majority of PC laptops, and this foreshadows how well our architecture will scale into the Mac,” Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies, stated during WWDC.

In essence, Apple is betting on itself to be able to create better silicon with more rapid improvements in performance than Intel. Incidentally, before the announcement, people apparently familiar with Apple’s plans told Bloomberg the decision was made after seeing slower annual gains in chip performance from Intel. They also claimed Apple’s internal tests showed “sizeable improvements” on ARM hardware versus Intel silicon, and “specifically in graphics” as well as AI-powered apps.

Intel will survive losing Apple as a customer, and may very well leapfrog back ahead of AMD in process technology within the next couple of years. But this isn’t ideal. Apple is basically saying it can build more powerful Macs based on its own custom ARM hardware than it can with Intel’s processors, just slightly less bluntly.

ARM, developed by Softbank subsidiary Arm Holdings, is a set of architectures that can be licensed out to other companies looking to develop their own chips, while maintaining a commonality across devices. Apple has a long history with the company, too, going as far back as the ‘80s.