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
- Company tests faster performing processors than Intel's best — Major graphics boost in the works for upcoming desktop Macs
Context & Ripple Effects
Six months after Apple used WWDC to commit to replacing Intel chips with its own Arm-based processors, Bloomberg sources now put dates on that promise: new Apple Silicon MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros as early as spring 2021, with the full Mac transition done in 2022.
The substance behind the schedule is performance — Apple is reportedly testing processors that beat Intel's best, plus a major graphics push for desktop Macs. That matters because the high-end machines named here are exactly the pro segment where Intel compatibility was considered hardest to give up.
First-order effects
- Intel loses its last flagship Mac sockets on a published clock: once the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro move, no Mac line ships Intel silicon, and the 2022 deadline makes those designs final now.
- Pro buyers face a hard platform decision inside roughly two years — Rosetta-era workarounds end when the transition completes, so software stacks must be native by then.
Second-order effects
- The roadmap keeps expanding rather than shrinking: by May 2021 sources had Apple planning new MacBook Pros, Airs, Mac Pros, Mac minis, and larger iMacs with faster CPUs and new IO, showing the in-house chip program feeding more models per cycle than Intel-era refreshes did.
- Intel's client business loses a marquee design win it can't win back through pricing alone, since Apple's stated reason is testing ahead of Intel's best parts — competitive pressure shifts to whoever else buys x86 for thin-and-light and pro laptops.
Third-order effects
- Owning its silicon lets Apple set its own generational cadence, which is how the line reached M4 chips with AI upgrades and memory improvements by 2024 — the transition reported here is the precondition for that AI-focused roadmap.
- If the pattern holds, 'Mac' stops meaning an x86 machine at all: by mid-2026 sources describe new versions of every Mac, including long-awaited iMac updates, confirming a permanently self-paced, fully Apple Silicon lineup.
The trend: Personal computing's largest vertical integrator is completing its move from merchant CPUs to in-house silicon, converting chip roadmaps from supplier negotiations into product-cycle decisions.