Sources: Apple is preparing new Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros for as early as spring 2021; full Mac transition will finish in 2022
Context & Ripple Effects
Kuo's mid-2020 component roadmap had already sketched which Macs would move to Apple Silicon first, starting with the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. This Bloomberg report extends that arc to the high end — MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros — and puts a date on the finish line: the full Mac transition done in 2022.
Subsequent reporting validated the cadence: by May 2021, [[a:966423|the rumored slate had grown to cover MacBook Pros, Airs, Mac Pros, Mac minis, and larger iMacs]] with faster CPUs and new IO, suggesting the spring-2021 start was only the opening wave of a multi-year refresh program.
First-order effects
- Pro Mac buyers weighing an Intel-based MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro must now choose between buying today's models or waiting for the Apple Silicon versions Bloomberg's sources peg as early as spring 2021.
- The remaining Intel Mac configurations effectively become transition inventory, since Apple is signaling a hard 2022 endpoint for the entire line.
Second-order effects
- Software vendors serving the pro Mac market face a porting deadline: applications need to run natively on Apple Silicon before the 2022 cutoff or risk losing customers who upgrade their hardware.
- Intel stands to lose its last flagship Mac sockets once the transition completes, ending its supply role across Apple's highest-margin desktop and notebook lines.
Third-order effects
- With every Mac on its own silicon by 2022, Apple sets its own CPU cadence independent of Intel's roadmap — the structure behind the steady stream of machine refreshes in the following years' reporting.
- A fully Apple Silicon Mac line deepens ecosystem lock-in: professional users whose workflows depend on macOS hardware are bound to Apple's chips and development toolchain, raising the cost of leaving.
The trend: Personal computing is shifting from merchant x86 processors toward vertically integrated custom silicon, with Apple's two-year Mac transition as the clearest template.
Related: Workload-allocation lock-in · Apple Silicon · MacBook Pros · Sources: Apple is planning MacBooks Pros, Airs, Mac Pros, Mac minis, and larger iMacs
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Discussion
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@markgurman
Mark Gurman
on x
Apple Preps Next Mac Chips With Aim to Outclass Top-End PCs — details on Apple's plans for the next set of Mac chips after M1. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
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@stevesi
Steven Sinofsky
on x
Apple (AAPL) Preps Next Mac Chips With Aim to Outclass Highest-End PCs - “Company tests faster performing processors than Intel's best” // shocking plans if true https://www.bloomberg.com/...
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@tomwarren
Tom Warren
on x
@OriginaIPenguin and $20,000 wheels
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@technology
@technology
on x
The next series of chips will be placed across upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro, entry-level and high-end iMac desktops, and later a new Mac Pro workstation. The chips are projected to be several times faster than the current Intel-powered hardware https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
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@originaipenguin
OriginalPenguin
on x
@tomwarren It'll come with a custom stand for $40,000.
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@benbajarin
Ben Bajarin
on x
Not a surprise here. Architecturally Apple has so many advantages to leverage and set the bar in nearly every product they make chips for. Apple now known for being a hardware, software, services, AND semiconductor company. https://twitter.com/...
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@tomwarren
Tom Warren
on x
Apple is reportedly working on a 32-core ARM-based Mac chip that will compete with high-end Intel PCs. Will be interesting to see how this compares to AMD's Threadripper, and I imagine it won't be cheap https://www.bloomberg.com/...
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@lukemiani
Luke Miani
on x
Remember that M1 in single core is already beating threadripper and 10 core gaming CPUs, so with 32 of those cores I legitimately don't know how X86 competes 🤷♂️ https://twitter.com/...
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@artemr
Artem Russakovskii
on x
Apple set to dominate 2021 and on, and it's probably too late for Intel (🦕) to do anything about it. Hopefully, AMD will pick up Intel's slack and try to compete. https://twitter.com/...
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@starfire2258
Sean Hollister
on x
(...has @backlon tweeted yet? coast seems clear) Big Mac. https://twitter.com/...
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@stroughtonsmith
Steve Troughton-Smith
on x
Up to 32 high-performance CPU cores, 128 GPU cores for that Apple Silicon Mac Pro? This first generation of M-series Macs sounds monstrous https://twitter.com/...
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@patrickmoorhead
@patrickmoorhead
on x
Things just got real interesting. The specs and performance seems plausible to me. Nice grab @markgurman. / Apple Preps Next Mac Chips With Aim to Outclass Top-End PCs https://www.google.com/...
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@mkbhd
Marques Brownlee
on x
I told y'all to stay patient! M1X or whatever it's called is shaping up to be SWEET. https://twitter.com/...
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@_harshilshah
Harshil Shah
on x
“For its next generation chip targeting MacBook Pro and iMac models, Apple is working on designs with as many as 16 power cores and four efficiency cores, the people said.” Good god. Here I was thinking just 8 would be wild. https://www.bloomberg.com/...