Apple preps 32-Core Mac processors aiming to surpass Intel chips

Apple is working on a new ARM-based processor with as many as 32 high-performance CPU cores to gradually phase out the use of intel cores, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The processor could also appear in a new “half-sized Mac Pro” that is slated to release in 2022. 

The American tech giants, Apple, are making a new series of Mac processors, and the first of the new chips could be launched as early as spring 2021, the report said. This comes after Apple debuted the M1, its first Mac main processor, in November.

The engineers are already working on multiple follow-ups, the sources close to Bloomberg cited, including a chip with as many as 32 power cores for a new half-sized Mac Pro. After release, the new chips will be used across new versions of the iMac desktops, MacBook Pro, and an upcoming Mac Pro workstation.

The company’s smartphone-like M1 chip that features a CPU with four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores is being used in the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. However, Apple is still using Intel chips for its more powerful machines like the Mac Pro. Over the course of the next two years, Apple intends to transition its whole Mac lineup onto its own chips.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is also working on chips with more Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) cores. While the November release M1 chip comes with either seven or eight GPU cores, it is currently testing models with 16 and 32-cores. By late 2021 or 2022, Apple aims to release a chip with as many as 128 GPU cores, which would be far faster than the Intel and AMD processors it currently uses.

Apple is looking at designs featuring up to four efficiency cores and 16 power cores for its upcoming chip for MacBook Pro and iMacs, the sources revealed. But depending on how the manufacturing process goes, Apple may launch other chips that are mid-way between the two versions, with eight or 12 power cores.

Apple’s ambitious plans to move its entire Mac lineup onto its own silicon in the next two years provides justice to the fact that it has more powerful chips in development. Thanks to their combination of power-efficiency and performance, its first ARM-based Macs have impressed. Still, it will be a far bigger challenge to match the capabilities of its more powerful Intel-based machines like the Mac Pro.

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