from Hacker News

Apple moving to ARM for Mac in 2021: Analyst

by turshija on 2/24/20, 5:38 PM with 23 comments

  • by floatingatoll on 2/24/20, 6:28 PM

    This is an analyst's opinion, and is not supported by Apple on-record. "We expect" != "Apple confirms". Relevant quote from the article:

    > We expect that Apple's new products in 12-18 months will adopt processors made by 5nm process, including the new 2H20 5G iPhone, new 2H20 iPad equipped with mini LED, and new 1H21 Mac equipped with the own-design processor. We think that iPhone 5G support, iPad 's adoption of innovative mid-size panel technology, and Mac's first adoption of the own-design processor are all Apple's critical product and technology strategies. Given that the processor is the core component of new products, we believe that Apple had increased 5nm-related investments after the epidemic outbreak. Further, Apple occupying more resources of related suppliers will hinder competitors' developments.

  • by monocasa on 2/24/20, 6:21 PM

    It's interesting that the actual quote from the investor call is that it's a processor designed in house, and doesn't call out ARM.

    IMO, an x86_64 chip makes way more sense. The patents are about to expire. Removing nearly all of the legacy mode only cruft (which is not as much as you might think, but tends to be in the critical data path) and making a chip that runs at least x86_64 user mode code would align with how they removed 32 bit support in Catalina.

  • by OrangeMango on 2/24/20, 8:54 PM

    It's just going to be a low-end Mac Mini that's really nothing but a high-end AppleTV. The pieces are already there!

  • by sdan on 2/24/20, 6:31 PM

    This is huge for Raspberry Pi’s. Once ARM is more standardized, more docker Conro arts and binaries will be available in arm as well.