Apple Silicon Goes Beyond ARM

Apple Silicon slide from WWDC 2020 keynote

Undoubtedly one of the biggest announcements from WWDC 2020 was the forthcoming rollout of Apple Silicon. As AppleInsider explained, the move is about more than ARM-chips.

Many custom software optimizations already developed for iOS — such as Metal graphics — can be brought over to the Mac directly now that both share the same access to Apple’s own sophisticated silicon. Currently, Apple has had to develop two versions of Metal, one for iOS and another for the GPUs used on Macs. So Apple isn’t just arbitrarily moving from “x86 to ARM,” but rather using its custom silicon work to enhance the performance, features, and deep integration on its Macs. Moving “to ARM” is sort of a side effect of Apple’s wanting to use its own custom silicon. Up to this point, Apple has been limited to adding a helper chip like the T2 to its Intel Macs to handle custom features like Touch ID and Touch Bar.

Check It Out: Apple Silicon Goes Beyond ARM

One thought on “Apple Silicon Goes Beyond ARM

  • Charlotte:

    Many thanks for this link. A very worthwhile read for anyone interested in this architecture, and its significance for the future of the Apple platform.

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