Apple gathers the building blocks to invent tomorrow’s tech

Apple’s M-series Mac range.

As we emerge from 2021 it’s becoming crystal clear that Apple’s biggest news across the last 12-months is its move to place its own processors inside Macs.

This effort has been so very successful the entire industry is watching for insight into the company’s future plans.

We’re learning more about it

The latest claim comes from Taiwan’s Commercial Times. As has been widely reported, that claim is that Apple plans to update its Apple Silicon Mac chips every 18-months.

While this is being reported as seeming different from the c.12-month upgrade the company offers on its iPhones and Apple Watch, that’s not really the case.

Apple now provides three different M-series chips across its Macs, and we think it may have one more iteration to reveal within the Mac Pro in 2022.

In other words, what’s happening isn’t Apple upgrading its Mac chip every eighteen months, it is Apple iterating three or possibly four chips over that period. When it comes to Macs, Apple now offers a processor range.

Three chips together: M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max

What comes next?

The report tells us (as we expected) that Apple is on course to introduce the M2 chip in 2H22, with the M2 Pro and M2 Max processors scheduled for 1H23.

The M2 chips will be 4-nanometer chips and will be followed by 3-nanometer processors after an 18-month cycle, which sounds a little like it’s on schedule for late 2023, which is also when we anticipate 3nm chips inside iPhones.

This is also interesting within the context of Apple’s wider plans to develop a much larger family of chips, including those for displays, 5G, Wi-Fi and everything else.

Various recent claims have also discussed physical manifestations of such control of the components used in these devices, including a new range of Apple XDR displays at a cheaper price.

This young lady will be one of those who builds our future

Owning the means of production

These hardware manifestations will deliver unique advantage as Apple parlays its control of the entire hardware experience in the form of absolute control of the processors, drivers and everything else in these systems.

[Also read: How Apple can put Apple Silicon in every smart home’s heart]

This is very important to understand. What this essentially means is that Apple is right now in a very strong position as it moves into the next decade.

That opportunity seems close to executive minds.

During an interview with French journalists Apple VP Global Marketing, Greg Joswiak remarked:  “We are in a position where if we can imagine something, then we can create it. We can make it real.”

Apple’s fiscal position helps with this, of course.

But the company’s continued work toward owning all the most inherently important components used across its devices will in future be seen as helping much more. And this will I think help the company achieve that $358/share target Morgan Stanley currently suggests at the high end.

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