Apple is officially moving to its own silicon chips for some of its Mac hardware. Calling it a “historic day for the Mac,” Apple CEO Tim Cook detailed the transitions to PowerPC, OS X 10, and a move to Intel chips before unveiling its plans to use Apple’s own ARM-powered silicon in Macs in the future. It’s a big move that means macOS will support native iOS apps and macOS apps side-by-side on these new machines in the future.
The Apple silicon project is all about creating powerful, energy-efficient processors, which should mean that future MacBooks have far superior battery life than we’re accustomed to these days.
The chips will have deep integration with macOS Big Sur. All of the company’s own software can already run as native apps on Apple silicon-based Macs, including demanding tools like Final Cut Pro. Microsoft has also gotten the Office suite to work natively on Apple silicon, and Adobe is doing the same for Creative Cloud apps.
As for iPhone and iPad apps, they’ll be able to run natively on Apple silicon Macs too. You’ll be able to download them from the Mac App Store. Ultimately, the move to Apple silicon should allow the company and third-party developers to more easily build apps that work between its various devices with minimal friction. That initiative got into full swing with Project Catalyst.
Apple is promising new levels of performance and far less power consumption with its move to in-house processors. Apple is designing its own range of SoC for Macs, with unique features to Mac. The common ARM-based architecture across Apple’s products should now make it easier for developers to write and optimize apps across every major Apple device.
Apple’s move to its own ARM chips comes just as the company unveils macOS Big Sur, which includes a big redesign of macOS and features updates to the Messages and Maps built-in apps.
Recent reports have suggested Apple’s move to ARM has been prompted by Intel’s slowing performance gains. Apple has reportedly been testing ARM-based chips in Macs and found big performance increases over Intel alternatives.
Apple’s transition to ARM follows a similar move by Microsoft to experiment with Windows on ARM nearly a decade ago. Microsoft started this work ahead of the Windows 8 release in 2012, and even released the Windows RT operating system that was designed for ARM-based hardware. Microsoft has since transitioned Windows 10 to ARM and worked with Qualcomm to integrate a custom SQ1 processor into its Surface Pro X device.
Intel has long known this migration was coming, since it’s reportedly been in the works for quite some time. Nevertheless, the company “remains focused on delivering the most advanced PC experiences and a wide range of technology choices that redefine computing,” a spokesperson said.
