14 DAY TRIAL // A strange but tantalizing rumor coming out of France this week suggests that not only has Apple not given up plans to build an army of ARM-based Macs, but the company is actually marching onwards with these plans, possibly to surprise us next week with a major announcement at the WWDC opening keynote.
A MacBidouille report citing reliable sources that have been accurate in the past says, in a nutshell, to expect major new Mac upgrades featuring a new breed of ARM processors designed specifically for the desktop experience.
Apple has lined up the following army of Macs, according to these sources: “all-new iMac which have 4 or 8 ARM 64 processor with four cores; Mac mini which have 4 ARM 64 processor with four cores; a portable 13" also with 4 or 8 quad-core ARM 64 processors.”
Additionally, “These machines are all accompanied by a new keyboard incorporating a Magic Trackpad large format,” according to the machine-translated report. Certainly something to look out for next week, when WWDC14 kicks off. Rumor has it that Apple not only plans to unveil iOS 8 and OS X 10.10, but it also has some hardware announcements lined up.
There are concerns that the Cupertino company could be shooting itself in the foot by switching away from Intel x86 architectures, much like it did with the PowerPC architecture that essentially crippled the Mac from various standpoints, including gaming.
However, things are different now. A lot different. For starters, ARM has been embraced by everyone today, from hardware vendors to software developers. Second of all, ARM really seems to be doing wonders for battery life, especially on Apple’s iPads. Third, ARM chips have reached a point where they are comparable to desktop solutions. In a nutshell, they’re blazing-fast. Fourth, and probably most important for Apple, the Mac maker has become an expert at designing its own ARM chips with optimizations for iDevices and iOS. There’s no reason not to at least try and replicate that success on the desktop front.
And who says Apple has to give up Intel just to deploy a range of Macs based on ARM chips? Why not test the waters, see how they fare, then decide if a full switch to ARM is necessary?
There’s also a good chance this rumor stemming from France is only half true. Apple has been said to be testing a larger iPad featuring a keyboard built inside its Smart Cover, much like the Microsoft Surface. This product could well be what the aforementioned sources are hearing of, while much of the rumor could be nothing more but bad intel or pure speculation.
However, unlike the early 2000s, Apple this time would not be shooting itself in the foot by completely switching to ARM. The sheer number of applications in the iTunes App Store is a clear testimony of the developers’ commitment to code for the platform, so there wouldn’t be a shortage of applications, that much is clear.
Update: as reader Iiids points out in the comments, another major advantage would be felt in the price department. Apple could theoretically sell its entry-level MacBook Air for the price of an iPad.