Rumors of Apple potentially moving to ARM over Intel for their computers have been rumored for many years, with some dating as far back as 2012. We have also heard the rumors that Apple has been testing out such designs, and now thanks to a report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, an ARM-powered MacBook Pro could debut this year.
However it should be noted that this Apple-designed ARM chip won’t completely replace Intel’s offerings. Instead it seems that the chipset could exist alongside Intel because according to the report, it has been suggested that this particular chipset will be used to handle the computer’s low-power mode with a feature called “Power Nap”.
The idea is that by offloading the work to a separate dedicated chipset, it will help improve the battery life in the MacBook Pros which has been a bit contentious since its release. It should be noted that Apple already relies on a custom ARM chip in the form of the T1 that handles the Touch Bar and Touch ID, and let’s not forget that Apple has employed a similar strategy with its iPhone where there is the main chipset, and a chipset that is designed to handle the sensors in the form of the MX lineup.
As for when these ARM laptops will appear, apparently they will be arriving later this year as part of the 2017 MacBook Pro refresh, which last we heard could be cheaper and offer users the option of packing up to 32GB of RAM.
Filed in . Read more about Intel, Laptops and Macbook Pro.