The rumors were not so much: Apple has just confirmed at WWDC 2020 that its next MacBooks and Macs will equip its own processor model, as the company already does with its iPhone and iPad. In this way, they begin to say goodbye to Intel after many years of collaboration and creating its own processor.
Apple will stop using Intel processors in its future MacBooks and Macs in favor of its own processor, which for now is being called Apple Silicon . It will be based on the ARM architecture and, as is already the case with iPhones and iPads , it represents the company’s leap towards its own processor configuration that will not depend on external manufacturers.
This is a historic move for the company, as it will allow Apple to further optimize its equipment to obtain more power and, in the case of MacBooks, achieve more hours of autonomy thanks to the fact that it will control the manufacturing process from start to finish. , as it already does with its mobiles and tablets.
On the other hand, the computers that come with the Apple Silicon processor will be able to run iPhone and iPad applications natively , another step towards a universal operating system that allows full compatibility between the different computers of the brand.
Expected to see the light later this year, the first Mac with an Apple Silicon processor will open a new era in which, according to rumors from some analysts, we will see a team in the form of a 24-inch iMac accompanied by a 13-inch MacBook Pro “Although this has not been confirmed by the company at WWDC 2020, the developer event at which the announcement took place.
According to Apple, the architecture that the company started with iPhones already represents the best power and consumption ratio that they can achieve in a processor, with which the fact of making the leap to Apple Silicon processors in Macs will allow greater power – in the In the case of Macs – and more hours of autonomy – in the case of MacBooks – without sacrificing any characteristics of the equipment.
How about ARM support?
Regarding the support of macOS applications, the mere arrival of macOS Big Sur will already mean the automatic updating of apps for Apple professionals towards compatibility with the ARM architecture. As far as external developers are concerned, they will have to add support for these new processors, something that, according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, will in many cases be a matter of a few days.
Microsoft, for example, has already adapted Word and Excel applications to be compatible with this new processor technology, while Adobe is doing the same with Lightroom and Photoshop .
Through the Developer Transition Kit , Apple will offer developers a kit consisting of an Apple TV with desktop configuration (Apple A12Z processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD and macOS Big Sur) so they can update your applications and prepare them for the jump to this new technology.
A historic day for Apple
In what Tim Cook has called “a historic day” for Apple, the brand has thus unveiled its strategy of turning completely towards its own structure of processors in its laptops and desktops . Although there are still models in process that will come out with Intel processors, the truth is that in a short time we will see equipment exclusively based on Apple’s own processor.
To be exact, the transition to this ARM architecture will take a couple of years, according to Apple, but at the beginning of this year we can already expect to know the first team that will release this new technology. In addition, the brand has also introduced the new macOS Big Sur , iPadOS 14 , iOS 14 and watch OS 7 at WWDC 2020 .
