Apple is anticipating on making some serious changes to their devices in the coming months. According to CNN, the company may fulfill longtime rumors that they’re moving towards using their own chips inside their MacBooks. Now, it seems as though users could see that change as early as 2021.
Instead of using the Intel (INTC) processors that they currently use, the company would use its own ARM-based chip. Apple (AAPL) has been making their own in-house for quite some time now, something implemented into their iPhones and iPads. Now, it appears they could make its way to their iMacs and MacBooks by next year.
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“I think it is likely that we will see the switch happen in stages,” Adwait Mardikar, an analyst at tech research firm Canalys said, according to the outlet. “We might see the switch to Apple chips for Apple’s MacBook lineup in 2021, but I believe it will be quite a while before we see the entire Mac lineup on its own chips.” While the transition will happen in phases if confirmed, there will be benefits that come along with it.
Since the chip is already in iPhones and iPads, if they were to be used in their line of computers, it would make it easier to keep each device linked. It would also improve the battery life and create a much sleeker look. “Moving to ARM-based chips can bring efficiencies and better battery life without sacrificing performance,” David McQueen, research director at ABI Research said. “It may also help to cut out some size issues, possibly allow Macs to be made thinner, while also negating the need for fans.”
“It will allow all Apple devices to work more seamlessly together,” he continued. “It should also make it much easier for developing to create apps that are capable of running across Apple devices.” He continued to explain how this could also agree with the new 5G network. “Although apple has given no indication that it is looking to do so, this switch does also open the doors for Apple to launch MacBooks with cellular connectivity capabilities.”
Other ways both Apple and the user will benefit will allow the company to offer better upgrades and save on costs. “They also get to control their own product launch codence,” Jitesh Ubrani, researcher manager at IDC said in a statement. “In the past, they had to really wait on Intel to launch new processors before they could refresh the Mac lineup.” Apple will also likely save on manufacturing costs, however, while that will benefit the company, that won’t necessarily mean lower purchasing costs for users.
However, their high-end computers, such as the MacBook Pro, iMac Pro and Mac Pro, will be the company’s biggest hurdle. “The real challenge for Apple will be its high-end computers […] these run on high-performance CPUs like Intel Xeon chips, and it remains to be seen if Apple can come up with processors that can match the performance.”
