Apple’s plan to replace its entire Mac lineup with custom ARM-based silicon appears to be progressing quicker than anyone might’ve expected. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the computer giant is making headway on high-performance M1 chips that can outperform the Intel processors utilized in current iMac and Mac Pro models. These include a 32-core design that could launch as early as late 2021.
“With today’s Intel systems, Apple’s highest-end laptops offer a maximum of eight cores, a high-end iMac Pro is available with as many as 18 and the priciest Mac Pro desktop features as much as a 28-core system,” Bloomberg noted. “Though architecturally different, Apple and Intel’s chips rely on the segmentation of workloads into smaller, serialized tasks that several processing cores can work on at once.”
Apple is also planning on challenging AMD and NVIDIA with designs that feature up to 128 graphics cores, which is quite the increase from the 8-core GPU in today’s M1 silicon. Sources firmly believe that they’ll be more powerful than any of Apple’s current Radeon graphics options.
“For later in 2021 or potentially 2022, Apple is working on pricier graphics upgrades with 64 and 128 dedicated cores aimed at its highest-end machines,” Bloomberg’s sources said. “Those graphics chips would be several times faster than the current graphics modules Apple uses from Nvidia and AMD in its Intel-powered hardware.”