After much back and forth about whether or not to announce new hardware, Apple has finally publicly condemned Intel. This was something we already knew: the Cupertino company wanted to use its own processors and stop relying on Intel . Aside from some tension due to recent events, Apple wants its own closed ecosystem, one that cannot be replicated.
As they have officially indicated by the end of the year the company will launch the first Mac based on the ARM architecture. This architecture can be licensed and can be adjusted and customized to the taste of each manufacturer. Apple had been doing it for the iPhone, but now it is going further and implementing it in laptops and desktops.
[amazon box=""]Apple officially announces goodbye to Intel processors
We recently learned that the company has been working on this transition for 15 years, so it has not been an outburst. Intel's shortage issues and vulnerabilities in its processors have only accelerated the company's decision. A transition that began at the end of the year and that Apple says will end in just 2 years.
The company has highlighted that developers can now start working on the transition of applications to this new architecture. Apple offers a special program with access to documentation, support forums and a version of the macOS Big Sur operating system and Xcode 12. This includes the use of DKT, which must be returned at the end of the transition period.
Said kit has a Mac Mini with an SoC called the Apple A12Z Bionic SoC. It should be noted that the A12Z Bionic was revealed in March on the iPad Pro (2020). This processor has 8 cores whose maximum frequency is 2.49GHz. Additionally the processor has 128KB of L1 cache and 8MB of L2 cache and would be a renown for the Apple A12X. This chip is accompanied by 16GB LPDDR4X and a 512GB SSD and all for $ 500.
These transition kits do not seem to carry next-generation solutions, betting on something in between. It will enable the development and optimization of solutions for ARM chips, as otherwise it would not make much sense.
A really complex move
Apple has always wanted to have a very closed and difficult-to-access ecosystem and is on its way to that. This decision may partly work out for them, but it has significant problems. Support for AVX-256 and AVX-512 instructions, increasingly important in professional applications, will be lost. The possibility of having the 12th Generation Intel Xe is also lost, something to keep in mind. Another aspect that we do not know is how it will work or communicate with AMD graphics cards.
On the other hand, Intel has not been silent. They stand out from the company that they seek to offer the best possible experience and seek the limits of computing. They have made it clear that Apple's decision is a mistake, because Intel Tiger Lake processors are great processors. Of course, the company indicates that Apple is still a customer and that they will continue to support them.
This move, along with NVIDIA's, has dealt two major blows to Intel. It's worth remembering that NVIDIA's Ampere architecture DGX-A100 processors are based on AMD EPYC processors , not Intel Xeons.
Source: wccftech
