Apple’s move away from using Intel based SoC on its Mac computers has come to fruition with the launch of the in-house designed M1 ARM-based SoC for Macs. The Cupertino giant has officially announced the Apple M1 chip, which is specifically designed for Mac computers and conceived with the intention of the impending macOS Big Sur update to take full advantage of its benefits including having a wider range of apps to choose from and up to 1.5x speedier browsing with Safari browser.
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Built using the 5nm process technology, the Apple M1 has a unified memory architecture (i.e. all components are in a single chip) and packs 16 billion transistors. It packs eight-core CPU comprising of 4x high-performance cores and 4x high-efficiency cores and integrates an eight-core GPU – currently Apple’s most advanced one yet, as well as the Apple Neural Engine with 16-core architecture capable of 11 trillion operations per second.
The SoC also includes the latest image signal processor (ISP), Secure Enclave for best-in-class security, high-performance storage controller with AES encryption hardware, and Thunderbolt controller with support for USB 4. According to Apple, the M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, up to 2x longer battery life, and up to 15x faster machine learning (ML) workloads when compared to previous-generation Macs.
