Apple has confirmed a long-awaited switch to its own Mac computer chips. Here’s what that means
Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is being held online for the first time this week, but the virtual keynote it hosted yesterday held nothing back.
The tech company typically uses the event to preview new software coming later in the year, and on that front there were several eye-catching announcements: among them, your iPhone will be able to replace your car keys, and the Apple Watch will remind you to wash your hands.
We’ve rounded up the top features of iOS 14 here ahead of its release later this year, but Apple had a potentially more consequential announcement in the second half of yesterday’s show.
Tim Cook announced that the company would start selling Mac computers featuring its own microchips, signalling the end of Apple’s 15-year partnership with Intel.
It is not a move that is obviously groundbreaking to consumers, but in five years, is likely to be the key moment from the event. Apple’s own chips are the reason its iPhones and iPads are the world’s fastest mobile devices. Yesterday’s move could mean the same for Macs, giving it a sales boost in a market where Apple is a relatively small player.
But as we explore here, it also brings the Mac much closer to Apple’s portable devices, blurring the lines between computer, tablet and smartphone, and strengthening Apple’s grip on both its customers and its own hardware.
The first Macs featuring Apple’s own chips won’t be revealed until later in the year. But it has already committed to the biggest change to its computers for years.