Apple Reportedly Will Announce In-House Mac Chips Soon: Why It Matters
Apple is expected to announce it will develop its own chips for upcoming Mac products at this year's WWDC and that could have meaningful implications for all of its devices. This choice might even matter for iPhone and iPad users.
Apple's annual WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) is usually a showcase for the new ideas the company has cooking and a great place to announce impending product releases. There's a lot of excitement for this year's event, for several reasons. People are primarily expecting to hear about the next iPhone: the rumored and mostly leaked iPhone 12. This would probably be Apple's first 5G smartphone and, depending on what kinds of hardware they pack into it, could define the next few years of iOS devices. Tech enthusiasts are also interested in seeing how Apple will manage this event with its online focus as the company adapts to limitations introduced by the coronavirus pandemic.
While it's less of an exciting story than a monumental new flagship iPhone, Apple shifting to making its own chips is a likely announcement for this event. The rumors suggest Macbooks and Mac desktops that use the new chip shouldn't be expected to hit the market until 2021, but the time to go public with that information is now since people making Mac software will need the extra development time. Furthermore, a conference like this one is the best place to start those discussions since developers tend to discuss business deals and share development information in that environment.
As we've reported previously, Apple is likely switching from Intel chips to an ARM-based processor. ARM devices tend to have more efficient power usage which means better battery life, making them a better fit for mobile platforms like the Nintendo Switch. In this case, the idea is that Apple would build something like the upcoming A14 processor, which we expect to see in the iPhone 12, but with a scale that would make it useful for a personal computer. That uniformity in architecture will likely affect Apple's product line from Mac to iPhone, and could create a situation where almost every program and app is interchangeable across devices. That would be a feature literally no other tech company can tout.
Beyond that, this move would help Apple from a manufacturing and developmental perspective. The company would no longer have to time Mac upgrades around Intel's decisions. It could control the R&D process entirely and decide for itself what new generations of hardware will do compared to previous ones. Intel will always be locked in a battle with other chip manufacturers like AMD and Nvidia, and that naturally influences its choices. Apple, being a reputable hardware manufacturer with a dedicated install base any time it releases a product, would logically benefit from making chips that don't have to "respond" to Intel's competition. This makes even more sense considering the Mac products are the only Apple devices that don't already use proprietary chips.
Apple WWDC 2020 will be broadcast live at Apple's website on June 22nd, starting at 10 AM PT.