WWDC 2020: How Apple plans the transition to ARM Macs

At WWDC 2020, Apple has now officially announced the transition from Intel to ARM chips – Apple Silicon is coming.

For several years we have been accompanied by rumors that a switch from Intel to ARM would take place. Now it is official. Apple has unveiled the first ARM chip at WWDC 2020. This is what the press release:

In a historic day for the Mac, Apple today announced that it will transition the Mac to its premium custom Apple silicon to deliver industry-leading performance and powerful new technologies. Developers can now begin updating their applications to take advantage of the advanced capabilities of Apple silicon in the Mac. This transition also creates a common architecture across all Apple products, making it much easier for developers to write and optimize their applications for the entire ecosystem.

Apple Silicon processor announcement at WWDC 2020 in Xcode — Image: Apple

First ARM Mac will be delivered before the end of the year

This means that Apple is now designing its own chips for iOS devices and its Mac desktop and laptops. According to Apple, the first ARM-based Mac will ship before the end of the year. The transition from Intel to ARM will be completed within two years - according to the company. Apple's chips will combine custom CPU, GPU, SSD controller and many other components. In addition, Apple silicon will include the Neural Engine for machine learning applications.

Adobe and Microsoft are already working on transition

With macOS Big Sur, Apple has already updated its own applications to natively support the new Apple chips, including Final Cut Pro. Third-party developers can get started by recompiling their applications in the new version of Xcode. Apple also announced that key partners, including Adobe and Microsoft, have already made many of their applications run on ARM.

Rosetta is back

In addition, Apple is reviving the Rosetta brand, Rosetta 2, as a new option for emulation. Emulation will be required for applications that have not been updated to run natively. Apple explained that Rosetta 2 offers fast performance and is transparent to users, although of course applications with native code are preferred. New virtualization options will be available for developers who need to run virtual machines on their computer.

Mac Mini as ARM developer kit

To help developers transition their Intel Mac applications to future ARM Macs, Apple is offering a new Developer Transition Kit, which is Mac mini hardware with an A12X CPU. Apple will begin shipping these developer kits later this week, the company has officially confirmed. (Image: Apple)