Apple finally dropped its long-awaited bombshell: Apple’s Macs are switching to its own internally-developed ARM silicon, and the transition will begin before the end of the year.
Apple made the announcement on Monday, as an unofficial “one more thingâ€� at the end of the opening keynote of the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference (taking place virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic). The custom silicon will be supported by the next iteration of Apple’s MacOS, code-named “Big Sur.â€�Â
Apple CEO Tim Cook described the transition as a “game-changerâ€� for Apple, similar to the company’s prior transition away from the PowerPC to Intel’s own Core processors. The transition to ARM-based Macs from the older Intel-based Macs will take place over a period of about two years, Cook said, adding that Apple still has new Intel-based Macs in the pipeline.