Apple to accelerate use of own chips to outpace Intel-powered computers

Apple’s M1 chip was unveiled in a new entry-level MacBook Pro laptop, a refreshed Mac mini desktop and in the MacBook Air range.

Apple is planning a series of Mac processors for introduction next year that are aimed at outperforming Intel’s fastest.

Its chip engineers are working on several successors to the M1 custom chip, Apple’s first Mac main processor that debuted in November.

If they live up to expectations, they will significantly outpace the performance of the latest machines running Intel chips, according to sources.

Apple’s M1 chip was unveiled in a new entry-level MacBook Pro laptop, a refreshed Mac mini desktop, and in the MacBook Air range. 

The company’s next series of chips, planned for release by the spring, are destined to be placed across upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro, both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops, and later a new Mac Pro workstation.

The roadmap indicates Apple’s confidence that it can differentiate its products on the strength of its own engineering and is taking decisive steps to design Intel components out of its devices.

The next two lines of Apple chips are also planned to be more ambitious than some industry watchers expected for next year. The company said it expects to finish the transition away from Intel and to its own silicon in 2022.

It could accelerate a shakeup in an industry that has long been dependent on Intel’s pace of innovation. 

For Apple, the move sheds that dependency, deepens its distinction from the rest of the PC market and gives it a chance to add to its small, but growing share in PCs.

While Intel gets less than 10% of its revenue from furnishing Apple with Mac chips, the rest of its PC business is liable to face turbulence if the iPhone maker is able to deliver demonstrably better-performing computers.

• Bloomberg