New M2 MacBook Pros to Enter Production Soon, Analyst Predicts

New M2 MacBook Pros to Enter Production Soon, Analyst Predicts

Apple will include its new M2 processor in upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch models of the MacBook Pro, which will hit production in the coming weeks, Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst known for his reliable predictions, said Monday.

Apple revealed the M2 chip at WWDC in June, saying the new chip would be an upgrade from the M1, which marked a new era for the company as it transitioned away from Intel processors for its computers. So far, Apple has released its 13-inch MacBook and MacBook Air using the newest chip, but it didn't provide details on when its larger MacBook Pros with the M2 processor would start rolling out. 

Kuo tweeted that production will happen in the fourth quarter of 2022. But it's not clear if he's referring to Apple's fiscal fourth quarter that ends in September -- or to chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's fourth quarter that ends in December. In July, a Bloomberg newsletter predicted that the new MacBooks would launch in fall 2022 or spring 2023, as reported by 9to5Mac. 

The M2 processor is 18% faster than the M1 while not affecting battery life. The M2 also features a memory boost of 24GB, up from 16GB. 

Apple's next event is set for Sept. 7 , which may be when the company shows off the larger MacBook Pros and the iPhone 14. 

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

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Apple has set the date for its latest iPhone's debut. The new device, which is expected to be called the iPhone 14 and include an always-on display, will be unveiled on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). Rumors suggest the new iPhone lineup will nix the Mini in favor of a new Max model, joining the rumored iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, and potentially increase the price by about $100 over last year's. Apple may also have plans to excise the iPhone 14's notch in favor of a hole-and-pill-shaped front camera, at least for the Pro models. 

In addition to the iPhone 14, Apple's may also use the event to unveil the Apple Watch Series 8, which will reportedly look similar to last year's model but have more health features such as a fever sensor, as well as improved durability.

The tech giant has invited press to its Apple Park headquarters in California for the event, though it'll also offer a livestream on Apple.com and other streaming services. As is typical, Apple didn't say much in its invitation about its upcoming iPhone event. The invitation shows an Apple logo seemingly set in a night sky, suggesting potential camera improvements or last year's rumored satellite emergency calling. The image looks like something we might see from the James Webb Space Telescope, whose stunning photos have already begun changing how we see the cosmos since first being released earlier this summer. In its announcement, Apple included the teaser words "Far out." 

Read more: How to Watch the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8 Launch

The new features for both the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 may help Apple stand out from Samsung and other device makers during what is expected to be heightened competition this year. People have been cutting back on tech purchases, leading to surprisingly low sales reports from chipmaker Intel, as well as sudden ad business shortfalls for Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta. And they're not alone.

Our collective confidence in the economy has fallen through the floor, thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic mixed with continual inflation and a looming recession. One survey from the University of Michigan found that consumer sentiment is at its lowest point in at least 70 years.

That means Apple will have to fight even harder to win over new iPhone owners. Samsung, for its part, made Apple's job a little easier by announcing its flagship Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 at their standard prices of $1,800 and $1,000, respectively, earlier this month. It also raised the prices of its Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro by $30 apiece. 

Apple so far isn't acting worried. Over the past couple of years, Apple's notched its biggest revenue and profits each holiday shopping season, largely on the popularity of 2021's iPhone 13 and 2020's iPhone 12. Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously cited the advanced cameras, long battery life and well-regarded software as reasons people continue choosing iPhones. But he also said that 5G, the super-fast wireless technology Apple began using two years ago, is likely to push even more people to upgrade.

"5G has been an accelerant," he said when speaking to investors on a conference call last month. He added that although the technology is spreading through some places, like China, the EU and US, other parts of the world haven't begun using it as much. And so as 5G expands, he said, "I think there's reason to be optimistic."

While the iPhone will be a key product we see at Apple's event this year, and likely what most people focus their attention on, the company's expected to have other devices to show off. Those include new Mac computers with upgraded chips and new iPads.

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MacBook Pro 2021 vs. MacBook Air 2020: New M1 chips complicate your laptop choice

MacBook Pro 2021 vs. MacBook Air 2020: New M1 chips complicate your laptop choice

With the two new MacBook Pro laptops, a 16-inch and a 14-inch model, introduced by Apple this month, the entire MacBook laptop line has shifted to Apple's own M-series chips, and away from Intel. This shift means more options for new MacBook buyers to consider, as well as additional considerations about ports, screens, webcams and power -- especially graphics power.

The MacBook Pro started life in 2006, as a successor to Apple's PowerBook line of laptops, and part of the first wave of Intel-powered Macs. The Intel/Apple partnership lasted 15 years, and now we're down to the last couple of available Intel Macs, an older Mac Mini and the 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs. I doubt we'll see any more, as the Mac line continues to go all-in on Apple's own chips, allowing the company to control the design of the hardware, the OS and the CPU. 

The new models are available to buy now, although some configurations already show long wait times before shipping. 

Apple

Last year's initial wave of M1 Macs made for some confusing buying choices. The less expensive MacBook Air and more expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro used almost identical M1 chips (with a single extra GPU core in the Pro), despite a $300 difference in their starting prices. The $699 Mac Mini? Same chip! The upshot at the time was that the MacBook Air remained the most universally useful choice for most people. 

The new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops represent a much wider gap between the Air and Pro models. It's also a way Apple can lure in higher-end creative pros who need the graphics power -- previously only available in select Intel Macs -- for video editing, content creation and 3D work. Before now, the M1 Macs were not always powerful enough for more complex workloads. 

Read more:  M1 Max vs. M1 Pro vs. M1: Apple's MacBook Pro chips compared

By adding the M1 Pro and M1 Max system-on-chip parts (sometimes called an SOC, or more casually referred to as the MacBook's "chip"), these really become pro-level machines, and will do a better job of attracting professional buyers, who are used to spending many, many thousands on their mission-critical work rigs. 

Let's look at the current lineup and see how the new announcements have changed the buying calculations: 

Current MacBooks compared

	14-inch MacBook Pro	16-inch MacBook Pro	MacBook Air (13-inch, M1)	13-inch MacBook Pro (M1)
CPU	M1 Pro or M1 Max	M1 Pro or M1 Max	M1	M1
No. of GPU cores	14 (up to 32)	16 (up to 32)	7	8
Screen size	14.2 inches	16.2 inches	13.3 inches	13.3 inches
Screen resolution	3,024x1,964 pixels	3,456x2,234 pixels	2,560x1,600 pixels	2,560x1,600 pixels
Starting storage	512GB	512GB	256GB	256GB
Starting RAM	16GB	16GB	8GB	8GB
Webcam	1080p	1080p	720p	720p
Networking	802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0	802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0	802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0	802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Connections	Thunderbolt USB-C x3, HDMI, SDXC card, MagSafe 3	Thunderbolt USB-C x3, HDMI, SDXC card, MagSafe 3	Thunderbolt USB-C x2	Thunderbolt USB-C x2
Weight	3.5 lbs	4.7 lbs	2.8 lbs	3.0 lbs
US starting price	$1,999	$2,499	$999	$1,299

The new models

This is the first brand-new screen size for a MacBook since the 15-inch Pro went to 16 inches in 2019 (the iMac added a 24-inch version this past summer). Along with that, it actually gets both thicker and heavier. The trade-off is that the thicker body allows for all those extras, like the resurrected HDMI and SD card ports. 

The bigger screen covers even more of the top panel, with thinner bezels. So thin, in fact, that the webcam has been reduced to a notch, cutting into the display itself, much like on an iPhone. So far, I've heard mixed reactions to that, but I think the better 1080p-resolution webcam more than makes up for it. I've used the 1080p webcams in the 27-inch iMac and newer 24-inch iMac, and it makes a huge difference in video meetings. 

Keep in mind these shopping notes are based on the on-paper specs for the new MacBooks, plus my long experience testing and reviewing MacBooks, which goes back to the very first MacBook Pro in 2006 and the first MacBook Air in 2008. For more in-depth notes, make sure to check out my review of the 14-inch MacBook Pro.

If you're more about portability than the big screen, especially if you output to a larger display, the 14-inch feels (on paper) like the sweet spot for portability and power.

Read our 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro review.

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Just about everything I said about the 14-inch MacBook Pro applies here as well. The two devices are remarkably similar, and you get both with either the M1 Pro or the M1 Max. Both also share the same heat pipe cooling system. New ports? The same. Notch-based 1080 camera? Same. No more Touch Bar? Same. The main difference, spec-wise, is that the 14-inch starts with some less powerful M1 options, with a base of eight CPU and 14 GPU cores. The 16-inch starts with 10 CPU and 16 GPU cores in its version of the M1 Pro. Both support up to the 10 CPU and 32 GPU cores version of the M1 Max chip. 

To spec out a 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with the closest matching specs, you end up with that M1 Pro 10 CPU/16 GPU chip, plus 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. On the 14-inch version, that will cost $2,299. In the 16-inch, it's $2,499. So you basically pay a $200 premium for a 2-inch-larger screen. (The 16-inch maxes out at over $6,000.)

And it could certainly be worth that. The previous 16-inch MacBook Pro was pretty impressive to look at. As opposed to the power-plus-portability pitch of the 14-inch Pro, the 16-inch feels like it's for people who want a bit of the feel of a big-screen desktop, without actually having a desktop.

Read our 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro review.

The existing models

At first, I was somewhat wary of jumping into an M1 MacBook Air. I was worried about compatibility issues with things like Adobe software and about overall performance compared to the trusted old Intel MacBook Air. 

But after nearly a year, I can say the Intel-to-M1 transition has been relatively smooth. The best thing I can say about the M1 chip is that it's largely transparent to the everyday MacBook Air user, which is exactly what you want from a big under-the-hood change like this. 

Apple's Rosetta emulation, for software not yet optimized for the M1, still runs most programs just as well as it did under Intel chips. Key Adobe software and other creative apps were updated for native M1 support, with more on the way. I've run into occasional problems with gaming apps or some drivers, and support apps for things like a label printer and some 3D-printing software.

Read our Apple MacBook Air M1 (Late 2020) review.

The first M1 MacBook Pro was a tougher sell than the Air. There was nothing wrong with it, but the line between the Pro and Air wasn't as distinct as it might have been. The main things that stood out about the 13-inch M1 Pro versus the M1 MacBook Air are the Touch Bar, a slightly brighter screen and better cooling (it had a fan). 

With the new Pro models, the 13-inch feels even further out to sea, unlikely to be updated ever again. The good news is, if you were going to buy a 13-inch Pro, the MacBook Air is pretty much just as good and can be configured with more RAM and storage to suit your needs. The bad news is, if you want to shift from 13-inch Pro to 14-inch Pro, the starting price jumps up by $600. 

My default advice remains the same, at least for now. Most mainstream laptop shoppers should start with the MacBook Air and see if that's enough laptop for them. If the ports, better camera or graphics power of the M1 Pro and M1 Max laptops feels like something you need, the decision comes down to portability versus screen size. And if you're the one Touch Bar die-hard out there, you'd better pick up the 13-inch MacBook Pro while you still can. 

More on the new MacBook Pros

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Apple MacBook Pro: Hands-on with the new and improved Magic Keyboard version

Apple MacBook Pro: Hands-on with the new and improved Magic Keyboard version

Even if you're stuck working from home, you can still get caught by the upgrade bug. That's why I eagerly tore into the new 13-inch MacBook Pro when it landed at the socially distant, wooded retreat I've been hiding out in for the past two months. In a lot of ways, the 13-inch Pro was always the most practical MacBook to buy -- fewer compromises than the MacBook Air, less expensive and more portable than the massive 16-inch (and previously 15-inch) MacBook Pro. 

But, that case had been harder to make of late. Both the 16-inch Pro and 13-inch Air recently upgraded from the much-maligned butterfly-style keyboard to the newer Magic Keyboard design -- a name now used in laptops, stand-alone Mac accessories and the new iPad Pro keyboard case. Newer Intel CPUs were available in those other systems. Neither of them would dare try and charge you more than $1,000 for a measly 128GB SSD. And when Apple dropped the price on the 13-inch Air back down to $999 (yes, really -- $1,099 with the Core i5 option), the $1,299-and-up 13-inch MacBook Pro was feeling like the odd man out. 

Perhaps knowing I'd been sitting out in the woods contemplating such things, Apple has now updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro, bringing it much more in line with its other laptop offerings. Major differences from the previous model include a Magic Keyboard upgrade, new 10th-generation Intel processor options for some models and double the base storage for all. 

In the woods, with a MacBook Pro. 

Libe Ackerman

Next to the keyboard, storage is probably the most practical change and takes the two lowest-priced models from 128GB of storage to 256GB; the midtier model from 256GB to 512GB and the high-end base configuration from 512GB to 1TB. The new top-end cap for storage is now 4TB, up from the previous 2TB. Prices for the four default configurations remain at $1,299; $1,499; $1,799 and $1,999. They start at £1,299 in the UK and AU$1,999 in Australia.

But before you buy, there are a few caveats to keep in mind. The two lowest-priced models are sticking with eighth-gen Intel CPUs. Upgrading to the 10th-gen chip is not currently an option until you hit the $1,799 level. That's the model I'm testing right now, with a 2.0GHz quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of fast DDR4 RAM, a 512GB SSD and Intel Iris Pro graphics. For an extra $200, you can double the storage to 1TB. For $400, you can bump the RAM from 16GB to 32GB, currently the 13-inch MacBook upper limit (the 16-inch Pro supports up to 64GB of RAM). 

New MacBook Pro 13 configurations

Price	$1,299	$1,499	$1,799	$1,999
CPU	1.4GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor	1.4GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor	2.0GHz quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor	2.0GHz quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
RAM	8GB 2,133MHz LPDDR3	8GB 2,133MHz LPDDR3	16GB 3,733MHz LPDDR4X	16GB 3,733MHz LPDDR4X
Storage	256GB SSD storage	512GB SSD storage	512GB SSD storage	1TB SSD storage

In the hand, well, it looks and feels like a MacBook Pro. No noticeable physical differences, aside from the keyboard. And you'd have to have a butterfly keyboard MacBook nearby to compare and see any real difference, at least visually. Typing on it is another story. 

I have, at times over the years, not exactly defended the butterfly keyboard, but I may have occasionally pointed out that it wasn't as all-out terrible as leagues of professional internet complainers would have you believe.  Yes, I may have once written an article called "In defense of the Apple MacBook keyboard," but it was pretty tongue-in-cheek, or at least that's how I'm retconning it now. 

When I reviewed the new 13-inch MacBook Air a couple of month ago, which likewise added the new Magic Keyboard, I said:

More than anything else, the new Magic Keyboard is what makes the latest Air such a winner. Yes, it solves a problem largely of Apple's own making, but the end result is highly satisfying ... The new keyboard is positively delightful, which is not praise I offer lightly. 

My hope is now that everything Mac has access to the same great keyboard design, we can stop talking about it quite as much, except to say it is indeed quite good. The best Windows laptops have largely caught up as well (although the same can't be said for Windows touchpads) so finding a great typing experience is a lot easier than it has ever been. For something similar, I'm liking the keyboard on the 2020 Dell XPS 13 a lot as well. 

And one thing you won't find on any of those Windows laptops, or on the MacBook Air, is Apple's touch bar. This slim OLED secondary touch display still sits above the keyboard, offering contextual controls for many system tasks and specific apps. It's not a huge selling point, although I frequently use it for volume and brightness control. Many MacBook shoppers would rather have their traditional function keys back, and I can't really argue with that. The touch bar has at least evolved over time, giving up a little real estate to return the physical escape key on one side, and breaking off its very useful fingerprint reader on the other. 

Touch bar. Still a thing. 

Dan Ackerman/CNET

This means every MacBook has been updated since last fall, although that may not be the end of the line, even near-term. Previous leaks and rumors had pointed to the 10th-gen Intel switch, but also a 14-inch display, much like the old 15-inch MacBook Pro replaced its screen with a 16-inch one, while keeping the same general footprint. That was not to be, at least not this time. Apple is also endlessly rumored to be on the verge of replacing Intel CPUs entirely with a processor of its own design. 

I'm currently testing this new 13-inch MacBook Pro and will report benchmark scores and battery life in an upcoming review. 

• The 13-inch MacBook Pro adds 10th-gen Intel CPU options for the two highest-end configs.
• All models double their base storage.
• Every current MacBook now has the new Magic Keyboard design. Yes, that means the butterfly keyboard is officially dead.
• Cost: $1,299 (£1,299, AU$1,999) and up, available to order now. 

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Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips mean new trouble for Intel

Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips mean new trouble for Intel

A year ago, Apple announced it was taking on Intel's most efficient chips by introducing lightweight MacBook laptops powered by the M1, a homegrown processor. On Monday, the consumer electronics giant expanded its challenge, launching MacBook Pro laptops built around the new M1 Pro and M1 Max that take on Intel's beefier chips.

The new MacBook Pros bode well for Apple's attempt to take firmer control over its products. And they're bad news for Intel, whose chips Apple is ejecting from its Macs after a 15-year partnership. It's a loss of revenue, prestige and orders to keep its factories running at full capacity.

"Intel has completely lost the Mac and is unlikely to regain it any time soon," New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a research note Tuesday.

Intel didn't lose this big customer overnight. The company that was once synonymous with consumer computers -- remember Intel Inside? -- fell on hard times because of difficulties upgrading its manufacturing. New CEO Pat Gelsinger has started an Intel recovery plan, including an effort to revitalize manufacturing progress. But turning around a behemoth requires patience. 

Meet the Mac's new chips

Intel's troubles encouraged Apple to develop its own chip expertise and technology for computers. (It already designed its own A-series chips for the iPhone and iPad, and indeed the M-series chips capitalize on that investment.) The company's M1 processors, which came in last year's MacBook Air and low-end 13-inch MacBook Pro, were evidence it wanted to take control of its own future.

The M1 Pro and M1 Max demonstrate the company's increasing power as a chip designer. Both are designed for more capable models, the 14-inch and 16-inch Pros, geared for video editors, programmers and others with intense computing needs. The heft of the chips -- each of which sports eight performance and two efficiency cores, compared with the M1's four-by-four design -- is intended to sustain heavy work. They also come with much more powerful graphics processing power and memory, up to 16GB for the M1 Pro and 64GB for the M1 Max.

Miniaturization is what lets chip manufacturers economically squeeze in more transistors, a chip's electronic circuitry elements. The new M1 models are doozies of miniaturization, with 34 billion transistors in the M1 Pro and 57 billion in the M1 Max. That's how it could add special chip modules for graphics, video, AI, communications and security into its high-end MacBook Pros.

Intel's troubles

Intel, which for decades has led the world in chip technology, suffered for the last half decade as an upgrade to its manufacturing technology dragged on longer than the usual two years. The company's problem came as it tried to move from a 14-nanometer manufacturing process to 10nm, the next "node" of progress. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.)

Intel didn't respond to a request for comment. Apple didn't comment for this story.

Apple's chip foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., took advantage of Intel's lag to the benefit of Apple, Nvidia, AMD and other Intel rivals. It now leads in electronics miniaturization and the all-important measurement of performance per watt of power consumed. 

The result is the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which according to Apple's measurements are 1.7 times faster than Intel's current eight-core Tiger Lake chips, formally called 11th generation Core. Compared differently, the M1 Pro and Max consume 70% less power than the Tiger Lake chips at the same performance level.

Apple doesn't reveal which speed tests it uses, so the results are hard to validate at this stage. The consensus, however, is that the performance claims are valid in broad terms.

"I am overall impressed at what Apple has been able to do on the latest process from TSMC," said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. He estimates that Apple saves a few hundred dollars per laptop because it doesn't have to buy Intel processors, although it spends a lot of that money designing its chips.

Don't count Intel out yet

To be sure, Intel won't be hurt badly by the loss of Apple's business. The company has plenty of other business. The vast majority of Windows PCs still use x86 processors from Intel and AMD. And customers only rarely change from Windows to MacOS or vice versa.

It also doesn't have a lot of competition. Apple doesn't license its chips to others, and Qualcomm's efforts to sell processors to PC makers has been a limited success at best. 

Intel mostly has to worry about AMD, which makes increasingly capable chips but still trails in market share.

Intel also has its Alder Lake processor, scheduled for later this year, and Meteor Lake processor, coming in 2023, to generate excitement. The chips will bring speed boosts in part by adopting a combination of performance and efficiency cores, just like the M1 does, and by adopting the new Intel 7 and Intel 4 manufacturing processes.

Still, Apple has taken wind out of Intel's sails. Intel may narrow the gap as its new chips hit the market. But in the meantime, Apple's M series could help it steal market share from Windows computers, Intel's stronghold.

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Apple's M1 processor highlights Intel's chip challenges

Apple's M1 processor highlights Intel's chip challenges

Apple's custom-built M1 processor and the new MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and Mac Minis that use it are a problem for Intel. The divorce proceedings will last about two years as the prestigious customer gradually ejects Intel's chips from its personal computers. 

But Intel isn't doomed.

The Santa Clara, California, company has some advantages and options in the PC market that insulate it from Apple's threat. Other PC makers aren't going to have as easy a time as Apple in moving past Intel. Intel is still the leader in higher-end chips more powerful than the M1. And it's got enough money on hand -- $18.25 billion in cash, equivalents and investments -- to let it spend its way to a better situation.

"There isn't much near-term threat to Intel's PC business beyond losing one sizable customer," said Linley Group analyst Linley Gwennap. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy for Intel, though.

Giving Apple grounds for divorce is the latest of the chipmaker's whiffs. Earlier achievements, like charting decades of steady chip industry progress with Moore's Law, pioneering PC technology standards and powering Google's data centers, have been overshadowed by newer flubs. That includes losing its manufacturing lead and failing to tap into the smartphone market. Intel ultimately sold its cellular chip business to Apple for $1 billion.

Though Macs account for only about 8.5% of the PC market, according to IDC, Apple remains one of the biggest and most influential tech companies. Its MacBook Air models led the trend to slim but useful laptops, its MacBook Pro models remain popular with programmers and the creative set, and Apple profits from selling premium machines costing hundreds of dollars more than most Windows PCs.

Losing Apple's business will sting. New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu estimated in a Wednesday report that 4% to 5% of Intel's revenue comes from Apple. But it's just one of the concerns Intel will need to address.

Intel said it's "relentlessly" focused on building leading chips. "We welcome competition because it makes us better," Intel said in a statement. "We believe that there is a lot of innovation that only Intel can do," including supplying chips that span the full price range of PCs and that can run older software still common in businesses.

It's also built its first samples of the 2021 Alder Lake PC chips and expects improvements in 2022 and beyond. "We're increasingly confident in the leadership our 2023 products will deliver," the company said.

Intel faces several challenges along the way, though.

The Qualcomm worry

One of the biggest concerns tied to the arrival of Apple's M1 is that it could embolden another Intel rival, Qualcomm, which already sells mobile-based processors for PCs. 

The M1 is a member of the Arm family of processors that are used in every smartphone today. Qualcomm, a leading designer of those chips for Android phone makers, is pushing more-powerful versions of its Snapdragon chips for PCs, too, and several PC makers offer Windows laptops using them.

So far, though, Arm-based Windows laptops have shown lackluster performance and remain a rarity among customers. Arm PC makers have to prove better value and performance before more people adopt the machines, said CCS Insight analyst Wayne Lam.

Apple's transition to Arm-family M1 chips is also very different from Windows PC makers using Qualcomm chips. No PC maker is dumping Intel the way Apple is, so software makers don't need to worry as much about adapting their products for the new chip architecture. Though it might be nice to have, Qualcomm PC support isn't really essential.

The AMD threat

Intel is the dominant manufacturer of chips in the x86 family, which are the kind of processors you'd find in a normal laptop. But it's not the only x86 chipmaker.

"AMD is a greater threat in the near term," said Tirias Research's Kevin Krewell, who noted that PC makers aren't going to be quick to drop the industry standard family of x86 chips.

AMD has done well with high-end desktop processors, chiefly for gamers, and is making inroads in the server market, too. It's using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. for manufacturing, taking advantage of its miniaturization progress to cram more circuitry onto new chips. Its new Zen 3 chip design offers a substantial speed boost.

In contrast, Intel, which manufactures its own chips, has struggled. It's only now moving in earnest from an earlier manufacturing technology with 14-nanometer features to a newer 10nm process after years of delays. Even next year's Rocket Lake chip for desktop computers will still be built with the 14nm process. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and the smaller the measurement, the more transistors you can cram into a chip.)

AMD's Ryzen 5000 processor family, with up to 16 processing cores, challenges Intel in gaming PCs.

AMD

New manufacturing options

Intel is giving itself new options, including the ability to use other manufacturers like TSMC to build its chips. That's got risks, too, though, Gwennap said.

Moving some manufacturing to a partner makes it harder for Intel to justify the expense of trying to develop cutting-edge manufacturing, according to Gwennap. And the possibility that Intel could reclaim manufacturing once it fixes its problems could spook TSMC away from investing enough to meet Intel's massive demand.

Intel didn't comment on its manufacturing plan details. It said its integrated design and manufacturing approach helps competitiveness and in letting Intel assure customers it can supply the chips they need. "We've also been clear we will continue investing in leading process technology development," Intel said.

Apple, in contrast, has benefited from TSMC's steadily improved manufacturing. It's one reason it can fit a whopping 16 billion transistors onto its M1 chip, enough circuitry to power the main processor engines along with lots of extra abilities.

Apple's M1 starts small

Over and over during the new Mac launch event, Apple emphasized the performance per watt advantages of the M1. Translate that as being able to do useful work without draining a laptop battery fast. 

Apple gets this advantage from the M1's lineage: the A series of processors that power iPhones. Smartphone chips have even stronger battery constraints than laptop chips. With the M1, a close relative of the iPhone 12's A14, Apple gets to add more transistor circuitry for more processing power and can run the chip at a higher clock speed than in phones, too.

Apple steadily increased A series chip performance for years, evolving the chip design and taking advantage of the prowess of TSMC, which manufactures the chips. Speed tests published by tech site Anandtech using the SPECint2006 benchmark show the A14 surpassing Intel's quad-core laptop chip, the 3GHz Core i7 1185G7 model that's a member of the new Tiger Lake processor family.

But the reality is that even Apple isn't ready to use the M1 in brawnier systems. The MacBook Air is all-in on M1, but Apple continues to rely on Intel for higher-powered 13-inch MacBook Pros. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, the iMac, the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro will continue to use Intel processors as Apple moves through a two-year transition to its own chips.

"It will get really interesting when Apple starts specifically optimizing its architecture for higher performance in a bigger thermal envelope and constant power for desktops," Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart said.

So yes, Intel has challenges. Apple's M1 is just the most obvious.

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https://nichols.my.id/how-to-fix-bad-sectors-cmd.html

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