As expected, this WWDC is historic. But not for ads involving iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS or tvOS. But because of the fact that Apple initiates yet another major transition in the brain of Macs: Intel leaves, ARM chips created by Apple enter!
The Mac has always focused on innovations, big changes and breaking paradigms, said Tim Cook. In the history of the computer, he has already done two major migrations of chips: to PowerPC and then to Intel (not to mention Mac OS X itself). And now we will have one more. Why? Apple believes that it can create better and more innovative products with all this hardware and software integration.
The main focus of this “performance per watt” transition. And Apple's history in this area explains Apple's optimism well: it has evolved this for years with its chips, which started with the A4 and are now on the A13 (for iPhones and iPads, since 2010). To give you an idea, the iPhone's CPU performance has grown 100x since the beginning.
The iPad demanded even more advances when it migrated to Apple's own chips, starting with the A5X and going to the A12X the tablet increased its GPU performance by 1,000x! And all of this, of course, gives us an idea of ​​what we should see on Macs.
Not to mention, of course, the chips placed inside Apple Watches, which are tiny and play their roles brilliantly. Apple has already produced 2 billion SoCs of its own in the past decade, which gives it great confidence for this transition.
The scenario for Macs today is like this: in today's computers, desktops are very powerful but consume a lot of energy; notebooks last longer, only they are less powerful. Apple wants to deliver the best possible performance with the lowest energy consumption.
Apple technologies also surround performance itself, improving outside management, increasing security, offering better graphics and more in a fully integrated way. There is also a special focus on machine learning. It is worth noting that Ma is creating specific SoCs (“Apple Silicon”) for the Mac line, and not using something created for iPhones / iPads on computers after all, they are very different products.
Apple wants full focus on native apps, and all of hers are ready for that, including some of the more powerful ones like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X and others. Everything is integrated into the Xcode 12 environment, of course. Most apps just need to be recompiled, a job that can take a few days.
Universal 2 binaries will allow the creation of apps that run on both types of Macs; Apple is already working with its major partners, such as Microsoft, which is already adapting Office, and Adobe, which is optimizing Creative Cloud for the new Macs.
A Mac running on an "Apple Development Platform" with the A12Z Bionic chip, from the latest iPad Pro, was shown including all demos of the WWDC20 keynote run on Macs with their own chips.
The idea is that the shared architecture greatly facilitates the work of developers who already have creations for iOS / iPadOS. For users, Apple wants a transition without any headaches, which is why Apple has Rosetta (now in version 2), which “translates” existing apps not adapted to new systems and was used in the transition to Intel.
The technology is faster, runs at the time of installing the app, allows dynamic translation of codes, works with apps and plugins, and is completely transparent to the user. Virtualization will also be on new systems, like Linux and Docker, it is good to note, however, that Windows was not mentioned.
As new Macs will have chips similar to iPhones and iPads, iOS and iPadOS apps will be able to run natively on new Macs! They will run like normal windows, without having to be adapted for macOS which can be great or horrible, depending on your point of view. Users will be able to download apps directly from the App Store, meaning the complete store will also be available on the Mac.
Developers who want to get ahead of themselves can now access the “Universal App Quick Start Program”. These are documentation, codes, private forums, labs, specific support and a Developer Transition Kit based on a Mac mini with the A12Z Bionic chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD to get your hands dirty!
The kit will be available this week, with the first hardware with proprietary chips arriving by the end of the year. Apple believes that the transition will take two years, until all lines are running Ma processors.