New reports suggest upcoming Apple Silicon chips will outperform Intel’s most powerful processors and arrive as soon as 2021.
Bloomberg’s Apple sources claim the Apple M1 successor “will significantly outpace the performance of the latest machines running Intel chips.” With Intel currently one of the leading processor manufacturers for both laptops and desktops, this could mean upcoming Macs could become the most powerful consumer computers available to buy.
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The 16-inch MacBook Pro and iMac are said to be the next devices to receive an Apple Silicon upgrade, with a new chip (rumoured to be called the M1X) featuring up to 16 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. Bloomberg did clarify that only “eight or 12 of the high-performance cores” may be enabled for the first wave of devices. These upgraded devices could arrive as soon as 2021.
Apple is also said to be working on an even more powerful Apple Silicon processor, with up to 32 high-performance cores, for high-end Mac desktops. Such a chip is expected to feature in a new “half-sized Mac Pro” which Bloomberg suggests could arrive in 2022.
Bloomberg also reports that Apple is working on more powerful graphics solutions, with 16-core and 32-core GPUs mooted for high-end laptops and mid-range desktops. And if that isn’t powerful enough for you, Apple is also said to be developing expensive graphics upgrades that range up to 128 dedicated cores, eclipsing the graphics performance offered by AMD and Nvidia GPUs in existing Intel-powered Macs.
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Of course, with nothing officially confirmed for future Apple Silicon processors at the time of writing, we advise to take everything with a pinch of salt for now, especially in regards to performance comparisons with other manufacturers. Intel will likely updates its desktop and mobile processors in 2021 too, and so it’s a little unfair to compare future Apple Silicon processors to existing Intel chips.
That said, this is still very exciting news for the Mac range, especially after the impressive performance gains seen by the MacBook Air M1 thanks to Apple Silicon.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
