According to a Bloomberg article last week, Apple is expected to announce ARM-based Macs at this month’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on 22 June 2020.
The code name for the semi-secretive project is Kalamata.
ARM Processor Macs
This would mark the third time in Apple’s 36-year history the company has switched processor architectures, and the first time the company has developed its own processor for the Mac. In the early 90s, Apple moved from Motorola 68k series CPUs to the AIM (Apple/IBM/Motorola) Alliance’s PowerPC processors. During the ’90s, Apple enjoyed many years of superior CPU performance over Intel x86 chips. Then in 2005, Steve Jobs announced Apple was moving to Intel’s x86 CPUs.
Key Takeaway: Apple is set to announce its move to ARM-based Macs in 2021 at this month’s Apple WWDC. The move is coming due to Intel’s woeful performance improvements, but Apple’s control of its own Mac CPU and GPU could do wonders for the platform, but there will be a software transition and a cost that will be felt in the pro markets like CAD/BIM/3D.
In both cases, Apple moved to different chip architectures due to current and projected performance or performance per watt concerns. The RISC (reduce instruction set computing) advantages of PowerPC gave Apple an inherent advantage for the AIM-era PowerPCs and Apple famously touted those advantages in memorable TV commercials.
Apple’s breakthrough Mac Pro and pro display today features Intel CPUs but by 2022 it may be offered in a version powered by an Apple-designed ARM-based SoC chip containing CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, among other features. (Image: Apple / All rights reserved)
Similarly, to the move to Intel, Apple’s key concern was performance per watt—as Apple’s mobile line of computers are hugely popular in business and education—and mobility means hours of use per battery charge. Apple designs and engineers its own battery technology and its A-series ARM-based chips for its iOS-based devices (eg: iPhone and iPad).
Multi-Year Roll-Out
Bloomberg’s sources claim Apple will roll out its own ARM-based Macs starting in 2021. While it will certainly start with some segment of its Macbook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro line, or perhaps all three, eventually Apple plans to transition to its own chips for even the most powerful desktop Macs. This means, eventually, even its ultra-powerful Mac Pro workstation.
MORE: Apple Leaving Intel on Macs by 2020—Impact on New Mac Pro
Apple moving to ARM with its professional-oriented Macs will have an outsized impact on various industries currently enjoying robust native applications for macOS. We have warned of this before in response to previous rumors of ARM-based Macs. We will summarize some of those concerns in the last section of this article. In any case, Apple will undoubtedly be pressured to maintain Intel-based Mac options for a few years, allowing both software developers and users to transition professional software solutions—especially those solutions built using numerous technical engines (eg: geometry kernels, rendering engines, etc)—for perhaps greater than 3 years.
next page: The benefits of ARM-Macs
Reader Comments
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This will be a disaster for CAD-BIM software on Mac if they eliminate the laptop high end behind. This will cause Mac software to be left behind because of market share. Just look at Bluebeam. As Vectorworks users highly invested in the software we will probably get screwed for our loyalty to the platform and software.
Hello, Rob. Thanks for sharing your concerns and views. From what I’ve been told and published, Bluebeam needed to concentrate all of its developer resources on a web browser-based version of Revu. So they axed the Mac version to grab those developers to work on the future version. I just heard there is no official time table for this version. So Mac users are very much left in the lurch by Bluebeam, especially since Revu for Mac 2.x is not very stable under Catalina.
That condition was not driven by Apple moving to ARM, however. It was driven by Bluebeam facing an onslaught of competition in the construction technology market by Autodesk BIM 360, Procore, and other solutions that are fully web-based, including Bentley’s new web-based ProjectWise 365 (good article if you are thinking about a CDE for your practice).
This will be a disaster for CAD-BIM software on Mac if they eliminate the laptop high end behind. This will cause Mac software to be left behind because of market share. Just look at Bluebeam. As Vectorworks users highly invested in the software we will probably get screwed for our loyalty to the platform and software.
Hello, Rob. Thanks for sharing your concerns and views. From what I’ve been told and published, Bluebeam needed to concentrate all of its developer resources on a web browser-based version of Revu. So they axed the Mac version to grab those developers to work on the future version. I just heard there is no official time table for this version. So Mac users are very much left in the lurch by Bluebeam, especially since Revu for Mac 2.x is not very stable under Catalina.
That condition was not driven by Apple moving to ARM, however. It was driven by Bluebeam facing an onslaught of competition in the construction technology market by Autodesk BIM 360, Procore, and other solutions that are fully web-based, including Bentley’s new web-based ProjectWise 365 (good article if you are thinking about a CDE for your practice).
A couple more thoughts, Rob.
I seriously doubt Apple would have invested the time it spend on the 3rd generation new Mac Pro (2019 version) if they were not serious about the pro markets. That investment includes manufacturing investments, including gearing its Austin, Texas facility as the global final assembly point for the new Mac Pro. I have shared in our Xpresso newsletter (which you should consider subscribing to!) details about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and their new US fab they are building my thoughts about it being highly suited for Apple’s custom silicon for its Macs. The US location would allow Apple to station staff there for test manufacturing and some degree of tighter control on upcoming processors that Apple clearly wants to keep close to its chest.
A couple more thoughts, Rob.
I seriously doubt Apple would have invested the time it spend on the 3rd generation new Mac Pro (2019 version) if they were not serious about the pro markets. That investment includes manufacturing investments, including gearing its Austin, Texas facility as the global final assembly point for the new Mac Pro. I have shared in our Xpresso newsletter (which you should consider subscribing to!) details about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and their new US fab they are building my thoughts about it being highly suited for Apple’s custom silicon for its Macs. The US location would allow Apple to station staff there for test manufacturing and some degree of tighter control on upcoming processors that Apple clearly wants to keep close to its chest.
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