Future Mac range of devices will come powered by chips that have been developed in-house within the company. This was announced by the company CEO Tim Cook during the company’s WWDC event. Cook said the first Mac devices powered by their own chips would be reaching markets by the end of this year itself.
Cook also said the development would usher in a new era for the company. The Apple iPhone and iPad devices already come with custom chips produced in-house within the company. And now, Mac too will be joining the list. This will also mark the end of the nearly 15 years of collaboration Apple has had with chipmaker Intel so far.
Apple meanwhile also stated they still have a few devices in the pipeline that will come powered by Intel chips. The company said they will be supporting such products as well as those they have launched before for several more years but decline to commit to any time frame just yet. Apple also claimed it could be two more years before they are able to move on to their own chips for all Mac models.
The move to Apple’s own chips also means there is some work to do for the app developers to ensure their apps continue to be operational with the new chips in place. The software head at Apple, Craig Federighi though said it is just about a few days’ of work that would be needed to make existing apps to remain functional once the new Apple chips start becoming operational.
All of this naturally translates to a significant loss of business for Intel right away though the chipmaker is yet to offer its comment on the development.
