Read all about Apple’s plans to transition the Mac to its new, world-class custom silicon
Apple to ditch Intel and move to its own Apple silicon in a two-year transition for the Mac
THIS YEAR’S WWDC SAW PLENTY OF UPDATES TO APPLE’S OPERATING SYSTEMS, BUT BY FAR THE BIGGEST NEWS WAS THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SWITCH FROM INTEL TO APPLE’S OWN PROCESSORS IN MACS. In a move similar to the 2011 transition from Powerpc to Intel, Apple will gradually be transitioning its entire fleet of Macs to Arm-based processors, called ‘Apple silicon’, over the next two years. Apple silicon is already found in Apple’s iphone and ipad models and its inclusion in Macs opens up new vistas of compatibility across all of Apple’s devices. Apple silicon, however, will require a complete rewrite from the ground up of all Apple’s software including its macos operating system.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “From the beginning, the Mac has always embraced big changes to stay at the forefront of personal computing. Today we’re announcing our transition to Apple silicon, making this a historic day for the Mac. With its powerful features and industryleading 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 silicon is a rebranding of the Arm-based architecture that Apple already uses in its A-series processors for ipad and iphone devices. The switch means that ipad and IOS apps will be able to run natively on Macs for the first time, although apps designed to run on a touchscreen will inevitably deliver a poorer experience in a mouse and keyboard environment.
The new Arm-based processors will also be able to run Linux natively or through virtualisation software, but there was no mention of Windows in the presentation, so we don’t expect Boot Camp to function on the new chips. There was also no word on whether Windows would work through virtualisation software on Apple silicon, either.
The new macos Big Sur, runs natively on Apple silicon, as do all of Apple’s apps, but to help aid the transition of third-party apps to the new platform, Apple will also be releasing Rosetta 2, a piece of emulation software that will run most of the apps designed for Intel chips on the new Apple silicon with hardly any loss of performance. At WWDC20, Apple demonstrated this with Rosetta 2 running complex 3D modelling apps with barely a noticeable difference.
Of course, apps will need to be written natively for the new processors to get the maximum performance and Apple is encouraging devs to write Universal 2 apps that work on both architectures from now onwards using the new Xcode 12.
Apple is also providing a DTK (Developer Transition Kit), which will enable developers to build and test their Universal 2 apps. The DTK consists of a Mac Mini with Apple’s A12Z Bionic SOC inside and desktop specs, including 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD, and a variety of Mac I/O ports. Developers can apply to the program at developer.apple.com, and the total cost of the program is £479.
For people thinking of buying a new Mac, the transition to Apple silicon presents a tricky new problem regarding exactly when the best time to buy a new Mac will be. Should you wait until an Apple silicon version of the Mac you want is available, or should you buy now?
There are a few things to consider. Firstly, with a two-year transition period in mind, Apple will still be selling Intel-based Macs for a long time to come. Tim Cook has also stated that there are still new Intel-based Macs waiting to be released before the end of 2020. Of course, most people will want to get one of the new Apple silicon models, and we’re expecting one of those to be released before the end of the year. The real question is how long you can afford to wait before upgrading. If your current Mac is at death’s door then you’ll have to upgrade to another Intel-based model. But that’s not a bad thing as Intel-based Macs will be able to run Windows natively via Boot Camp and will still be supported by Apple for many years to come.