Bloomberg today reports that Apple has plans to release at least one Mac powered by a customer Apple-designed ARM-based processor by 2021.
The report, by Mark Gurman, Debby Wu, and Ian King, is sourced from the ever-popular “people familiar with the matter” and claims Apple is developing three Mac processors based on the upcoming A14 chip, which will power this year’s Apple 12 lineup.
At least one of the processors will be more powerful than the A-series chips used in the iPhone and iPad lineups. The Mac A-series processors are expected to be manufactured by A14 chip fabricator TSMC, based on its 5nm process.
The report claims the first ARM-based processors for the Mac will boast 12 cores, with eight high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores. Apple is reportedly exploring Mac processors with more than 12 cores for future Macs. The company is said to be designing a second generation of Mac processors for 2021.
While the first ARM-based Mac is expected to be a notebook. However, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects several Mac models to be powered by Apple-designed processors by the end of 2021.