Apple's Intel-based 13-inch MacBook Pro got a revamped keyboard in 2020.
Dan Ackerman/CNETApple is overhauling its Mac computers with its own Arm chips, close cousins to those it designs for its own iPhones and iPads. Moving away from the Intel processors it's used for the last 14 years is a historic change that disrupts software makers but that could appeal to customers who need better battery life.
"The Mac is transitioning to our own Apple silicon," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said Monday. The first Arm-based Macs will arrive later this year, though developers can order Arm-based Macs this week to get started building software.
The company announced the change, rumored for nearly a decade, at its WWDC conference Monday, an online event that ordinarily draws thousands of programmers learning about the latest changes to writing programs for Macs, iPhones and iPads. Many of those programmers now will need to wrestle with the challenge of recreating their software for Arm Macs.
"The first thing this will do is give the Mac a whole new level of performance," said Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies. He also promised better power management for long battery life technology from Apple's mobile chips along with graphics, artificial intelligence and secure enclave hardware security hardware.
Apple demonstrated several important apps already adapted for the new chips, including its own Final Cut Pro video editing software, Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. And with a new version of its Rosetta emulation tool, apps written for Intel-based Macs will run on the new Arm-based machines. There, Apple demonstrated Tomb Raider running at 1080p screen resolution.
The chip, called the A12Z, is designed by Apple but is different from the A-series chips in iPads and iPhones. One new trick the chip and Rosetta will enable is the ability to run iPhone and iPad software directly on the new Macs.
Computer processors are some of the most complicated products on the planet, with billions of electronic components carefully arranged to balance performance and power consumption. Apple's A series processors, used in all its mobile devices and members of the Arm chip family, have consistently outpaced rival Arm designs used in Android phones.
Apple is now signaling that it's got the expertise to challenge Intel in the PC segment, where chips generally consume more electrical power but offer more computing power. It's betting that the likely advantages of Arm chips -- lower power consumption, lower costs and greater control over product plans -- will outweigh the disruptions.
Macs are influential PCs that command premium prices, but they Macs still represent less than 10% of computers being used today. Using its own Arm chips offers Apple a chance to cut costs dramatically -- saving $100 to $150 in Mac component costs, in the estimate of Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead.
Passing those lower prices on to consumers could help Apple compete better against Windows machines, particularly among cost-sensitive buyers like students.
"I think Apple should lower its prices, but I don't think it will," Moorhead wrote ahead of Apple's announcement.
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