MacRumors

Apple at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference announced its intention to transition away from Intel processors to Macs powered by its own Apple Silicon chips starting in late 2020. Apple says that by using its own Arm-based processors, it will be able to build better Macs that will boast better performance while also being more energy efficient.

Apple's announcement at WWDC 2020 was expected, but the timing of the transition has left many people in the market for a new Mac wondering whether they should buy one now, or wait until the first Macs powered by ‌Apple Silicon‌ arrive. If you count yourself among those facing the same dilemma, then keep reading. This article summarizes the most salient points to consider.

Where Have I Heard of Arm Before?

Apple is no stranger to Arm-based architecture, and if you're already wedded to the Apple ecosystem, you probably own a device powered by Arm chips. iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV all use Advanced RISC machine (Arm-based) processors instead of Intel chips, which use the CISC instruction set.

In fact, the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro are already equipped with Apple-designed Arm processors, in the form of the T1 and T2 chips that power the Touch Bar, Secure Enclave, and other features in these machines.

Indeed, Apple's familiarity with the architecture is one of the reasons the company has decided that it's time to make the wholesale switch for its desktop and notebook machines.

Will Arm-Based Macs Be Better Than Intel Macs?

Apple says it has been working on a family of system-on-chip processors for its desktop and notebook Macs that will usher in a new set of features and deliver "incredible performance."

Apple loves superlatives, but the details are still thin, so it's hard to know exactly what performance gains are in store. But based on past and current architecture, there are some benefits we can be sure of.

Thanks to Apple's years of experience honing power-efficient chips for its Apple Watch and iOS devices, it's fair to say that we can expect a better balance of high performance and low power consumption. Apple's custom chips will also provide best-in-class security with the Secure Enclave, along with high-performance graphics capabilities for professional apps and games.

‌Apple Silicon‌ chips will also include Neural Engines and Machine Learning Accelerators, making Macs ideal platforms for machine learning. Other technologies set to feature include a high-quality camera processor, performance controller, high-performance DRAM, unified memory, and cryptography acceleration.

In addition, Apple has developed several custom technologies that it can build into ‌Apple Silicon‌ to integrate the system and further boost the Mac's capabilities, making it stand out from the competition. Just take the T2 chip in current Macs, which integrates the system management controller, the image signal processor, the SSD controller, and a Secure Enclave with a hardware-based encryption engine, not to mention the Touch Bar and Touch ID.

By going all-in with its own silicon, Apple is increasing its ability to control both the software and the hardware, just like it does for iPhones and iPads, which should make for an improved user experience overall. Not only that, apps designed for the ‌iPhone‌ and the ‌iPad‌ will run on ‌Apple Silicon‌ natively when the first Mac with an Apple-designed chip is released.

How Much Faster Will Apple Silicon Macs Be?

The truth is we don't know yet. Apple seems confident in the future performance of its Arm-based Macs. Presently, Apple is providing developers with a Developer Transition Kit, which is a ‌Mac mini‌ with an A12Z iPad Pro chip. This is based on a 2019 Arm CPU that was designed for the ‌iPad‌, so shouldn't be seen as representative of what Arm Mac performance will ultimately be.

Due to the change in CPU architecture, current Intel Mac software will be translated under Rosetta -- this means that performance of unoptimized software will be slower until developers have a chance to support the new Arm processors.

Early benchmarks show how the developer kit performs with unoptimized software, and delivers benchmarks roughly on par with 2013 to 2015-era MacBook Pros.

It's worth noting, however, that the Arm-powered 2019 ‌iPad Pro‌ running Arm-native benchmarking software is faster than the 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ (2019) in single core and multi-core benchmarks.

Overall, these early benchmarks seem promising, bearing in mind that Apple's Arm-based Macs that run ‌Apple Silicon‌ will have new chips designed for specifically for the Mac and based on the A14 chip created for the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup with a 5-nanometer process.

When Are the First Apple Silicon Macs Due to Launch?

At WWDC in June, Apple said that the first Mac that uses ‌Apple Silicon‌ will be introduced before the end of 2020. The company didn't offer any more details beyond that, but rumors suggest Apple is developing at least three Mac processors all of which are based on the A14 chip in the upcoming 2020 iPhones.

Respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the first Macs that will adopt Apple's custom chips will be a refreshed 13.3-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ and a redesigned 24-inch ‌iMac‌, with the updated machines to launch in the fourth quarter of 2020 or early in 2021.

Apple analyst ‌Ming-Chi Kuo‌ has also said that Apple plans to release at least six Mini-LED products by the end of 2021, including 14-inch and 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, so it's possible that these new Macs will be among the first to run on ‌Apple Silicon‌.

Apple has already confirmed that its ‌Apple Silicon‌ Macs will continue to offer support for the Thunderbolt USB-C standard, so there will continue to be an Intel element in the new machines after all.

What Does Apple Silicon Mean for Intel-Based Apps?

Apple has said it will continue to support Intel Macs for years after the transition to ‌Apple Silicon‌ is complete, so if you buy an Intel-based Mac today, you can expect to receive software updates throughout the life of the machine.

As indicated by its Developer Transition Kit, Apple expects most developers to start building native apps immediately. However, users will still be able to run Intel apps on Arm-based Macs thanks to Rosetta 2, a translation process that runs in the background and is invisible to the user.

Apple has demoed Rosetta 2 with apps and games, and shown that there's no apparent difference between running an Intel app on an Intel machine versus an ‌Apple Silicon‌ machine. Everything works as you'd expect, but if performance is important to you it may take some time for all your software to be updated to support the new processors.

If you rely on Adobe software, the good news is that Apple has given Adobe early access to its Arm-based architecture, and Photoshop and Lightroom are reportedly already running smoothly on ‌Apple Silicon‌.

What If I Need My Mac to Run Windows?

Unfortunately, Boot Camp won't be available on Macs that run ‌Apple Silicon‌, and existing virtualization solutions also won't support running Intel Windows. Even if VMWare or Parallels were to offer that support, it would suffer from slower performance due to the different CPU architectures involved.

Microsoft does have its own native Arm version of Windows it uses on its Surface Pro X, but that is only available to manufacturers who resell Microsoft products under their own name and branding. As far as we know, there are no current plans make an Arm-based version of Windows available for Macs. Even if that were to become available for the Mac, it has its own compatibility and performance issues with traditional Intel Windows applications.

Should I Buy a Mac Now or Wait for Apple Silicon?

Apple is committed to supporting Intel-based Macs long into the future, and even says it has new Mac models in the pipeline that run on Intel processors.

In addition, Apple's existing Mac lineup has never looked in better shape. The 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ and the recently updated 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ in particular are well-rounded machines that offer very impressive performance across the board.

If running Windows is an important factor, then buying a current generation Intel Mac makes more sense than waiting. Intel Macs will be supported for years to come with new Intel Macs still in the pipeline.

In addition, if you are looking to buy a higher end Mac with specific software where performance is important to you, it also may not be worth waiting. Early ‌Apple Silicon‌ Macs may not replace the top-of-the-line for some time and native software will take some time to arrive.

If you don't need to buy a new Mac right away, and the idea of ‌Apple Silicon‌ excites you, it might be worth holding out for a little longer to see how things evolve. Apple says the first Arm-based Mac is set to be introduced before the end of 2020.

That said, Apple has also stated that it will take two years to transition its entire Mac lineup to ‌Apple Silicon‌, so depending on what kind of Mac you want, you could be in for a long wait.

MacRumors and password management platform 1Password have partnered up to offer our readers 50 percent off their first year of the 1Password Individual plan. Only new 1Password users will be able to claim the discount.

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Our readers will have until August 31, 2020 to claim this deal. Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Apple today announced significant enhancements for its Develop in Swift and Everyone Can Code educational programs, delivering free curricula and a new Develop in Swift online course to help teachers get up to speed for teaching app development in Swift.

“Apple has worked alongside educators for 40 years, and we’re especially proud to see how Develop in Swift and Everyone Can Code have been instrumental in helping teachers and students make an impact in their communities,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Markets, Apps, and Services. “We’ve seen community college students build food security apps for their campus and watched middle school educators host virtual coding clubs over summer break. As part of our commitment to help expand access to computer science education, we are thrilled to be adding a new professional learning course to help more educators, regardless of their experience, have the opportunity to learn coding and teach the next generation of developers and designers.”

Develop in Swift, which is aimed at students in high school and above, has seen its curriculum completely redesigned and includes four free books available through Apple Books: "Develop in Swift Explorations," "Develop in Swift AP CS Principles," "Develop in Swift Fundamentals," and "Develop in Swift Data Collections," with the first three available now and the fourth coming this fall.

For younger students and other beginners, Apple is also expanding its Everyone Can Code curriculum, launching a new "Everyone Can Code Adventures" book that builds on previous content in the program to allow for more advanced coding exercises using Swift Playgrounds.

Fujifilm has released its software for Mac that enables its X-series mirrorless cameras to be used as high-quality webcams.

The Fujifilm X Webcam tool was initially released for Windows PCs in May. Fujifilm later said it would offer a Mac version in mid-July due to the "overwhelming response" of its customers when it released the app for PC.

Fujifilm, Canon and Panasonic have developed software that brings webcam functionality to their cameras. The cameras are connected via a USB cable and offer a sharper picture for video calls.

Fujifilm has expanded the number of X-series mirrorless cameras that work with its Fujifilm X Webcam software, with the X-T200 and X-A7 now supported. Other cameras already supported include the X-H1, X-Pro2, X-Pro3, X-T2, X-T3, and X-T4. Fujifilm X Webcam also works with all three GFX medium format cameras.

Fujifilm lists the X Webcam software as compatible with Chrome and Edge browsers, with support for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, and Messenger Rooms.

Apple is working on Macs that use its custom Apple-designed Apple Silicon chips instead of Intel chips, but Apple has committed to continuing to support Thunderbolt, reports The Verge.

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said that Apple's upcoming machines will offer support for Intel's Thunderbolt USB-C standard.

"Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon."

Apple at WWDC unveiled its plans for Macs equipped with ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips, the first of which is set to come out before the end of 2020. Apple eventually plans to transition all of its Macs to ‌Apple Silicon‌, a process that the company says will take two years.

According to Apple, ‌Apple Silicon‌ will bring a new level of performance with more powerful Macs that are also more energy efficient with better battery life.

Sonnet earlier this year announced the launch of the Fusion Flex J3i internal drive mount, which is designed to let users add up to three SATA storage drives to the 2019 Mac Pro.

In our latest YouTube video, we went hands on with the Fusion Flex J3i, hooking it up to our ‌Mac Pro‌ to see how it performs.

The Fusion Flex J3i is a mount system that can provide up to 36TB of additional storage for the ‌Mac Pro‌. When purchased from Apple, the ‌Mac Pro‌ maxes out at 8TB of storage, so Sonnet's add-on provides a huge storage boost. The storage added through the Fusion Flex J3i will not, of course, act as a main boot disk and will instead work like an external drive that's plugged into the Mac.

You don't get any storage with the Fusion Flex J3i since it's designed to be a mounting system, so you're going to need to purchase storage separately and add it yourself. The Fusion Flex J3i supports two 3.5-inch drives and one 2.5-inch SSD or three 2.5-inch SSDs.

We tested the Fusion Flex J3i with two 4TB 3.5-inch hard drives from Western Digital, and installation was simple. Just four screws attach each of the hard drives to the J3i after the SSD plates have been removed.

After the Fusion Flex J3i has been outfitted with SSDs or hard drives, it also takes just a few minutes to get it up and running in the ‌Mac Pro‌. Pull off the cover, unscrew the plate at the top, and then insert the J3i into the machine.

The hard drives will connect to the ‌Mac Pro‌ and then you can attach the three SATA cables that come with the J3i, and since the ‌Mac Pro‌ has 1, 2, and 3, labeling, it's pretty easy to tell what goes where. After the mount is in place, put the ‌Mac Pro‌ back together, boot up, and all should be working well.

We found the Fusion Flex J3i to be a useful plug and play solution for those who are looking to add additional storage to their ‌Mac Pro‌ machines, and it's also cost effective. Sonnet charges $199 for the Fusion Flex J3i, and while adding storage is expensive, it's still cheaper than buying Apple's higher-tier SSD storage options.

You can get two 16TB 3.5-inch drives from Amazon for around $800, for example, which gives you 32TB of storage for much less than the $2,600 upgrade fee for the 8TB SSD from Apple. SSD storage is faster, of course, so if you want to go that route, you can get 4TB SSDs for somewhere around $600 each, which still comes in cheaper than Apple's storage.

For our setup, we have a couple PCIe SSDs in the ‌Mac Pro‌ for video editing purposes, with the J3i on hand for storing larger files, RAW images, and video backups.

Sonnet's Fusion Flex J3i can be purchased from the Sonnet website for $199.

Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion in Mexico, most countries in Europe, some countries in Asia, and the Middle East providing qualifying higher education students and educators with free AirPods when purchasing an eligible Mac or iPad.

Second-generation AirPods with a wired charging case (valued at $159) are available when purchasing a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, ‌iMac‌ Pro, iPad Pro, or iPad Air. During checkout, back to school shoppers can choose to upgrade to a wireless charging case for the AirPods or the AirPods Pro for an additional fee.

The low-cost ‌iPad‌, iPad mini, Mac mini, and refurbished products from Apple are not eligible for the Back to School promotion, but all educational purchases are available at a discount through the EDU store in each country.

Apple's Back to School promotion will require verification through UNiDAYs in many countries. Products can be purchased from the educational store on the EDU website for each country or in Apple retail stores. Full terms and conditions can be found on the promotional pages on Apple's country-specific websites.

Back to School deals are available to students and educators in countries that include Mexico, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand.

Apple earlier this year launched the same Back to School offer in the United States and Canada.

Apple retail stores are now accepting appointments from customers who want to book a time at a local store to make a purchase with the one-on-one help of an Apple specialist, similar to Genius Bar reservations.

The continued spread of the coronavirus in the United States and other countries has led Apple to implement safety measures that include limiting the number of people in a store, and as 9to5Mac points out, that can lead to long lines as customers wait to enter. With the new appointment system, those who plan ahead can skirt the lines with a reservation at a specific time.

Specialist appointments can be booked through the Apple Store app by searching for a local ‌Apple Store‌ and then selecting the "Shop with a Specialist" option on the store page. From there, customers can choose which product they're interested in and pick a time to visit the ‌Apple Store‌.

Appointments are available in 15 to 30 minute increments throughout the day depending on store location, with customers able to book up to three days ahead of their visit.

Samsung does not plan to include chargers in the boxes of some of its smartphones starting in 2021, according to Korean site ETnews (via The Verge).

Samsung, like Apple, is planning to nix power adapters because chargers "have become widespread" and it will allow the company to reduce smartphone production costs.

Multiple rumors have suggested that Apple plans to stop offering power adapters and EarPods with future iPhone models, shipping the devices with just a charging cable.

At the current time, Apple ships iPhones with either an 18W power adapter or a 5W power adapter depending on device, but in 2020, those who need a power adapter may need to purchase one separately from Apple or a third-party company. Many people, however, have multiple power adapters on hand from years of owning Apple products.

Eliminating the power adapter and EarPods from the ‌iPhone‌'s box will allow Apple to lower the production costs of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup, which are equipped with expensive 5G hardware.

Apple will also be able to save money on packaging, and will likely highlight the environmental benefits of fewer accessories in the box. Earlier this week, a render of an alleged iPhone 12 box insert surfaced, depicting a much thinner design that has room for a single cable and the ‌iPhone‌.

Apple is developing a new 20W USB-C power adapter that is likely to be sold separately to replace existing ‌iPhone‌ charger options, and it seems other smartphone manufacturers like Samsung are going to follow Apple's lead and take similar steps to eliminate accessories.

ETnews says that there's no final word on when Samsung plans to exclude chargers, but there are concerns about how customers will perceive the move. The site speculates that if Samsung removes power adapters without other "rewards of benefits," customers could complain and it could lead to fewer smartphone purchases.

Despite multiple reports indicating that Apple will not include EarPods or a wall charger with iPhone 12 models this year, one analyst believes that pricing will still increase slightly compared to the iPhone 11 lineup.

In a research note provided to MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu forecasted that ‌iPhone‌ 12 pricing will start at $749 for a new 5.4-inch model, an increase of $50 over the base model ‌iPhone‌ 11 for $699. Pu said the price is primarily attributed to the addition of 5G and an OLED display on all ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, whereas the base ‌iPhone‌ 11 has an LCD.

Due to 5G, Pu believes that the price increase will be "accepted by consumers" and "will not affect demand," but the move would generate controversy nonetheless if the EarPods and wall charger are removed from the box as rumored.

Extrapolating on Pu's prediction, the 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌ 12 would likely start at $799 or $849, so customers who want to stick with the same size display as the ‌iPhone‌ 11 could be facing a larger $100 to $150 price increase. It's unclear if a price increase would extend to the Pro and Pro Max models, which currently start at $999 and $1,099, respectively.

This prediction contradicts information shared by Jon Prosser, who said the iPhone 12 lineup will start at $649.

Apple suppliers will begin competing to win manufacturing orders for new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with Mini-LED displays in the first quarter of 2021, according to Taiwanese research firm TrendForce.

Rumors of a 14-inch MacBook Pro have surfaced since Apple replaced the 15-inch MacBook Pro with a new 16-inch model last year. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said that Apple plans to release at least six Mini-LED products by the end of 2021, including 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, so reports are beginning to align.

Mini-LED displays offer many of the same benefits as OLED displays on the latest iPhones, including high brightness and high contrast ratio. The panels could also allow for thinner and lighter product designs.

As part of WWDC last month, Apple announced that it will be switching to its own custom-designed processors for Macs starting later this year, and it expects the transition to be completed in around two years. Given this timeframe, it is certainly possible that these 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will be powered by Apple Silicon.

TrendForce also expects Apple to release a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a Mini-LED display in the first quarter of 2021, in line with recent rumors. The research firm expects the device to have a 5nm-based A14X chip. As with iPhone 12 models, the next iPad Pro models are also expected to feature 5G connectivity.

Intel today shared some new details on the upcoming launch of Thunderbolt 4, which is set debut later this year.

While Thunderbolt 4 won't deliver any increase over the maximum 40 Gb/s available on Thunderbolt 3, there are some notable improvements such as universal cables up to two meters long without needing to resort to active cables that omit support for slower USB standards as on Thunderbolt 3, the ability to support docks and other accessories with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports (one upstream, three downstream), and more.

Thunderbolt 4 certification requirements include:

• Double the minimum video and data requirements of Thunderbolt 3.
  • Video: Support for two 4K displays or one 8K display.
  • Data: PCIe at 32 Gbps for storage speeds up to 3,000 MBps.
• Support for docks with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports.
• PC charging on at least one computer port.
• Wake your computer from sleep by touching the keyboard or mouse when connected to a Thunderbolt dock.
• Required Intel VT-d-based direct memory access (DMA) protection that helps prevent physical DMA attacks.

Thunderbolt 4 ports and cables are fully backward and cross-compatible with USB4, Thunderbolt 3, and other USB standards, and it continues to use the USB-C physical connector design.

Thunderbolt 4 will be coming first to Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake processors for notebooks, with separate 8000-series controller chips coming later this year.

Apple, of course, has just announced that it will be transitioning away from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon chips across its Mac lineup over the next couple of years, and it remains to be seen how Apple will handle Thunderbolt support going forward. The A12Z-based Mac mini units Apple is distributing to developers to help them prepare their apps for the transition do not include any Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Apple today announced that over 140 more repair businesses are now participating in its Independent Repair Provider Program in the United States. The program, launched in August 2019, is also being expanded to Canada and Europe.

The program allows independent repair shops like uBreakiFix to offer certified out-of-warranty service for iPhones, such as display and battery replacements. Participating businesses receive access to the same Apple genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals, and diagnostics as Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers.

Independent repair shops need to have an Apple-certified technician who can perform the repairs to qualify for the program. Apply here.

"When a customer needs a repair, we want them to have a range of options that not only suits their needs but also guarantees safety and quality so their iPhone can be used for as long as possible," said Apple COO Jeff Williams.

To verify that a company participates in the program, visit this page.