Kuo: Apple will release Mac desktops with ARM processors next year

Apple would like to release desktops with ARM processors next year, claims the usually well-informed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In addition, several Apple laptops with ARM processors should come next year.

The move would mean that Apple has to spend less on processors for those devices, MacRumors writes based on a report by Kuo. In addition, Apple would no longer rely on Intel’s roadmap when releasing new models of its desktops and laptops.

Apple has been using self-designed socs in iPhones and iPads for ten years. There have been rumors for a few years now that Apple would like to use ARM processors in its Mac computers as well. Until now, those rumors have often been about laptops; the ARM architecture is known to be more economical than the x86 architecture of Intel and AMD processors, among others, and that could extend the battery life of laptops.

The move from current Intel x86 processors to ARM means developers need to tweak their macOS software. Perhaps that’s why Apple is already giving developers information about the arrival of Macs with ARM hardware. When Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel, the company gave developers information about that six months in advance. Since Apple plans to release its first Mac with an ARM processor at the end of this year or early next year, the online version of WWDC in June seems like a good time.

Apple itself has not said anything about a possible switch to ARM for its Mac products. It does fit in with the manufacturer’s strategy to develop more and more parts of its devices itself. For example, Macs of recent years have a chip that controls security functions, the T2.

Apple iMac 2019