iMac Pro Appears To Feature New T2 Chip For Extra Security

While on the surface the iMac Pro might seem like just a very souped up version of the regular iMac, it appears that Apple was serious when they said that they were designing it for professionals. Apple touts various impressive hardware specs on the iMac Pro’s website, but there are also some features that they did not mention.

According to a tweet by the co-founder of Panic Inc, Cabel Sasser (via Cult of Mac), it appears that the iMac Pro comes with a custom chip of its own called the T2. According to Sasser, “This new chip means storage encryption keys pass from the secure enclave to the hardware encryption engine in-chip — your key never leaves the chip. And, they it allows for hardware verification of OS, kernel, boot loader, firmware, etc.”

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⑤ Security. This new chip means storage encryption keys pass from the secure enclave to the hardware encryption engine in-chip — your key never leaves the chip. And, they it allows for hardware verification of OS, kernel, boot loader, firmware, etc. (This can be disabled…) pic.twitter.com/qKJ6bHdtr8

— Cabel Sasser (@cabel) December 12, 2017

Note that this isn’t the first time that Apple has deployed the use of secure enclave chips. The Cupertino company had previously used similar technology with the iPhone 5s back in 2013, although this would make it the first time that they will be using it with a Mac computer, which also begs the question of whether or not we could start seeing it find its way to future Mac computers as well.

We have heard other iMac Pro rumors like the use of an A10 co-processor that would help enable an always-on Siri, and cellular connectivity for anti-theft purposes. So far none of the initial reviews have confirmed the existence of those features, so do take it with a grain of salt for now. The iMac Pro’s availability has also recently been confirmed for the 14th of December, 2017 where it will be priced starting at $4,999.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Computers
Tags: iMac, iMac Pro, Security