At Apple’s WWDC 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “This is a historic day for the Mac,” and he was right when Apple announced plans to dismantle Intel chips for future Macs in favor of its own processor called Apple Silicon. The move has been ongoing for years: Apple is developing a new, more powerful processor for its next-generation Mac, the MacBook Pro. According to Apple, it’s a natural transition because it will help the company further integrate hardware and software for improved user experience. 
Cook outlined three key moments in Mac history, including the switch from Power PC to macOS and Intel. In its 36-year history, the Mac has had three major transitions, according to Cook, and it has had its share of ups and downs over the years. When Apple switched its computer chips from IBM to Intel in 2005, the company and its development partners had to do an enormous amount of code work to translate the binary language used by apps on IBM chips into Intel chips. Now Apple has developed a new kind of universal binary software that will work on all Intel-based Macs. In a historic day for the Mac, Apple today announced that it is switching all Macs to Apple’s world – the bespoke silicon that supplies the industry. The company has developed this technology to enable a smooth and seamless transition from Apple to Silicon. Developers can now start updating their apps to take advantage of the advanced capabilities of Apple’s silicon on the Mac. The transition will establish a common architecture that will make it easier for developers to write and optimize their app and the entire ecosystem. Apple has made a lot of announcements in the past few months, mainly focusing on the software side. With the release of a new feature – a packed operating system for the Mac – the Cupertino-based giant used the virtual show to announce something that will change Macs, laptops, and desktops forever. Back in 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would switch from the PowerPC architecture to Intel’s x86-based processors. Now, 15 years later, the company has announced that it is replacing Intel for ARM64-based processors, and in a move that will reduce its reliance on Intel chips, Apple is switching to a new architecture for its next generation of Macs and laptops. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement during his keynote at the opening of the company’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, California. Cook said the move would take the Mac to a whole new level and take about two years. The move began during Developer Week, but no information was provided at the conference on the timing of the move or the exact date of its introduction. On Monday, Apple hosted a live stream of its keynote presentation at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. The stream included interviews with Apple CEO Tim Cook and several other Apple employees, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the most ever shown in a single keynote presentation by a company. Aside from the new faces, Apple went on to highlight new features that are coming to its Apple TV and macOS platforms, as well as its new iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. In addition, the company announced a long-rumored – change in the hardware that powers its Mac computers, a change reminiscent of a transition 15 years ago that set it up for decades of success in both the desktop and laptop sectors. In the wake of the major shift away from Intel, Apple is now confident that it can develop its own silicon for the Mac computer. Apple’s chips will work together to make it easier for developers to develop apps that work with its products. The iPhone and iPad consist of a combination of Intel’s Xeon processor and the Intel Core i7-6700 processor, as well as other Intel chips. The first computers with Apple’s new chips are expected to hit the market by the end of 2020, Apple said, and still has a number of Intel-based computers in the pipeline. Apple has been relying on Intel chips for its MacBook laptops for several years, with the then – rumored – new MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, and the upcoming iPad Air 2. But this is a big change for Apple, one that will give the company more control over the design and production of its next generation of computers. Instead, ARM-based processors like Intel’s Core i5 and i7 chips will provide the brains for the future of Apple’s computing. The shift from the so-called “Apple Silicon” is monumental for Apple, one of the world’s largest technology companies and a major player in the global computer industry. At the WWDC 2020 keynote, Apple announced that in the future it will switch to ARM-based silicon processors to build Mac computers. The company expects the transition to take two years, with the first ARM-based Mac available in the second half of 2019. It will then continue to release Intel-based products, and the first ARM-based Mac will be available by the end of the year. Read more about igitimes.com
