Apple appears to be working on new processors for future computers with far more cores than the four found in the M1. The chips would be intended for more expensive MacBooks, iMacs and even the Mac Pro.
The rumours originate from Bloomberg, who appears to have an Apple roadmap in its hands. The website expects the new Apple chips to be a lot faster than their Intel counterparts.
More CPU cores
The company would start by introducing a chip consisting of 16 fast cores and 4 power-efficient cores. This processor is intended for more expensive versions of the MacBook Pro and the iMac. Based on binning, variants with 8 or 12 fast cores may also be made. These chips with 16 cores would be released as early as the beginning of 2021.
For faster computers like the Mac Pro, Apple would also be working on a 32-core version of the chip. This processor also has 4 power-efficient cores for basic tasks. Computers with these chips are expected to hit the market by the end of 2021 or possibly 2022.
Faster GPU
The GPU in the new SoCs will also be improved. In the current M1, Apple has incorporated 8 GPU cores, one of which has been switched off in some cases. Apple will likely put 16 or 32 GPU cores in the new SoC with 16 processor cores. The 32-core processor that Apple is working on could even have 64 or 128 GPU cores. The latter GPUs should become faster than the AMD and Nvidia GPUs that Apple has used so far.
Apple Silicon M1
Apple released its first computers with Apple Silicon M1 chips in November. The M1 is a chip with 4 fast cores, 4 power-efficient cores and 8 GPU-cores. The chip is available in MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. The CPU-cores are the fastest ever based on the ARM architecture. In benchmarks, only AMD’s x86-based Zen 3 architecture currently performs better.
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