It’s currently a theory, but there’s a good chance it could come true.
Every year, Apple has improved its ARM processor architecture, albeit there’s never been any concrete evidence that the company is looking to ditch Intel and AMD for good.
Still, the change may be occurring as we speak, and a nifty piece over at Digital Trends explains how Apple seems to be setting things up so that the right app support is in place when an ARM switch does occur. Case in point, the Mac Catalyst project is Apple’s project to let developers port iPad apps over to the Mac, first announced as part of MacOS Catalyst. Right now, Apple is actively courting developers to port their iPad apps across to the Mac with its dead-simple new process. The rumors suggest that iPhone apps are next, with the eventual goal that any app will work on any Apple platform.
With Catalyst, the ARM MacBook could launch with a huge catalogue of apps available right in the Mac App Store.
The Catalyst effort could fit into a much larger strategy, and instead of just being a limited-run effort to improve cross-platform apps, could transition the MacBook’s architecture to create an ARM-based Mac. Should this effort work, an enormous catalog of Mac apps would be available for use in the Mac App Store. This also comes at a time when Apple has already ditched its most popular native desktop app, iTunes, only to replace it with three separate Catalyst apps.
Beyond Catalyst, Apple is even building new app solutions with this cross-platform strategy in mind. For example, take Apple Arcade, the company’s new games subscription service. One of the key features of the service is that all of its 100+ games will run on almost any Apple device, including your iPhone, your iPad, your Mac, and even your Apple TV.
This, combined with Mac Catalyst functioning on the same principle, seems to indicate that Apple may be developing a unified Apple app ecosystem that can run of a shared ARM architecture.
The article also speculates that Apple could bring about a MacBook Air running on an ARM processor. This unit would also be able to run a hefty selection of Catalyst apps from the Mac App Sore, and it’s speculated that Apple could announce this transition at WWDC in June 2020.
Key to this is the idea that Apple could use Mac Catalyst to make porting applications that much easier for developers. Apple has previously stated that Mac Catalyst means devs merely have to tick a checkbox while coding their app and the fundamental features of a Mac app — cursor control, Dock support, inability to play the latest games (maybe not that last one) — will be automatically built in. It’s a massive quality of life boost to the dev community.
Thus, the current prediction is that Apple could start with lower-end MacBooks at WWDC 2020. And while meaty new hardware like the Mac Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro are about to launch or have just launched and use Intel’s high-end Core i9 chips, Apple will still have to work to have its ARM processors catch up to this level of performance.
It’s a similar situation with applications. From Logic and Final Cut to Premiere and Lightroom, these are content creation tools that professionals rely on. Simple Catalyst apps as replacement won’t cut it. While it seems evident that Apple will eventually move its entire line over to ARM, this comprehensive solution may not come as soon as 2020.
Either way, the initial steps have been taken and Apple seems to have taken the first steps towards an ARM-based processor architecture for its products in the future.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via Digital Trends