In a "historic day for the Mac," Apple CEO Tim Cook announced via the livestreamed WWDC that the company will begin to use its own silicon chips for some of its Mac devices.
The first Apple Silicon-powered Mac will release at the end of this year, with the company aiming to make the transition in two years' time. It should be noted that the company still has Macs powered by Intel, which means it's not going full exclusive on ARM-powered chips just yet. Still, it's a huge move for Apple.
The shift to ARM-powered chips means iOS and iPad OS apps will seamlessly run on macOS in the future. "Most apps will just work," as to how Apple had put it.
With Apple's move to its in-house processors, the Cupertino tech giant has promised less power consumption but with higher levels of performance. The company is designing its own range of SoC for Mac devices, with features unique to Mac.
More good news, Microsoft is quietly updating its client software, Office for the new Apple Silicon. Already, Excel and Word are running natively on the new Mac chips. Apple has been working with Adobe as well to get pro apps to run on the new processors.
If you're a developer, Apple is offering its new "quick start" program with sample code and documentation. The company is offering access to labs across the globe to make the transition to Apple Silicon easier. A Developer Transition Kit will be given in the form of a Mac mini enclosure, powered by the A12Z, with a 512GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM.
The transition to its own ARM chips comes after Apple introduced macOS Big Sur, which is a makeover of macOS features with updates to Maps built-in apps and Messages.
There have been reports suggesting that Apple's move was motivated by Intel's slowing performance gains. The company has been reportedly testing its own silicon in Mac devices and found better performance compared to those being offered by Intel.
Apple's move to ARM is reminiscent of Microsoft's similar transition about a decade ago when it experimented with Windows on ARM. The Windows maker started working on the project before Windows 8 was released, going as far as releasing an OS that was designed for ARM-based hardware, which it called Windows RT.
Microsoft has since transitioned Windows 10 to ARM, working with Qualcomm to power its Surface Pro X with a custom SQ1 chip.
