Apple To Replace Mac Intel Chips With In-House Processor – Bloomberg

A new media report has suggested that Apple will use its 2020 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (22 to 26 June) to confirm a major strategic move.

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the plan, Apple will next week announce the shift to its own processors in Mac computers, replacing the chips supplied by Intel.

This move has long been rumoured. In April it was reported that Apple was developing three Mac processors based on the A14 processor.

Intel move?

A year earlier in April 2018, it was also reported that Apple would stop using Intel processors in its Mac computers by 2020, and instead utilise its own inhouse central processing units (CPUs).

And then in February 2017, Bloomberg reported that Apple was developing an ARM-based in-house processor for its Macbook range.

Apple was developing its own processor in a project code-named Kalamata, and if true, the move would be a major blow for Intel, and its relationship with Apple, which in July 2019 had acquired Intel’s smartphone modem business, in a deal valued at $1bn (£804m).

Apple has been using Intel chips ever since 2005, when it stopped using PowerPC chips designed by IBM and Motorola.

2021 release?

But now according to Bloomberg, Apple will use next week’s developer conference (being held online) to give outside developers time to adjust before new Macs roll out in 2021, the people reportedly said.

Since the hardware transition is still months away, the timing of the announcement could change, they added, while asking not to be identified discussing private plans.

The new processors will be based on the same technology used in Apple-designed iPhone and iPad chips. But future Macs will still run MacOS and not iOS.

And there is little doubt that over the past couple of years, Apple has been bolstering its in-house engineering team.

It hired a number of Intel executives, including Stefan Wolff, who previously managed Intel’s German modem team, and Umashankar Thyagarajan, who used to the the head of Intel’s now-defunct modem biz.

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