Apple M1 Macs Launch a Revolution
There’s no turning back from Apple Silicon
For years, I’ve marveled at the raw power of Apple’s bespoke silicon, those A-class chips that appeared to have almost limitless headroom. Apple appeared to know something about mobile processors that its competitors, more specifically Qualcomm and, secondarily, Intel, did not.
It wasn’t just the benchmarks, which right on through the new iPhone 12 and its A14 Bionic, continue to handily beat the best Qualcomm has to offer. It was in how these devices performed and what I could do with mobile technology. Editing 4K video on a device no bigger than my hand would’ve been classified as science fiction a decade ago and is now de rigueur.
Apple’s decision to build its own custom silicon and gradually switch all of its Macs over to it was met with shock but not alarm. We know Apple could build the necessary power and realized that ARM-based CPU’s could offer significant battery life gains.
While not the first to do this, Microsoft and Qualcomm already partnered on the ARM-based SQ2 chip for its Surface Pro X, Apple’s far more expansive unveiling is sure to make more significant and long-lasting ripples in the system ocean.
While we only got one Apple Silicon SoC, the M1, Apple dove headlong into its own custom silicon…
