Apple Silicon: It took time, but Apple won the processor war

What a difference a chip makes…

In news so inevitable it really should be of no surprise to anyone, we now learn that Apple has an Apple Silicon processor development road map all the way into 2025 – and beyond.

Apple has a roadmap for its silicon

Color me unsurprised at this revelation. Its pretty clear Apple’s chip development teams have been following a road map since before they even commenced this work, so news they plan to introduce the first M5 Mac systems in or around 2025 really is just more of the same.

What’s being claimed is that Apple’s own backend firmware verification servers now carry references to A19, M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra chips.

• That’s interesting in itself, because the news also implies Apple to be already testing these systems – or else verification wouldn’t be required.
• And what’s interesting about that is that it hints that Apple is already working with early prototype 2nm processors that will inevitably much faster and much more power performant than those it already has.
• And this in itself illustrates just how far ahead of the industry Apple is pulling in terms of processors.

From this seat, it’s as if the processor wars are over, and Apple has won.

I’m sure they aren’t over, and Apple hasn’t quite won yet.

These new processors should be more powerful and more parsimonious when it comes to power needs, which again implies they’ll be cooler to the touch.

What that means is that it will be possible for Apple to design computers with even less ventilation, smaller heat syncs, and potentially in brand new design configurations. After all, no one wants a red hot burning Mac folded up sitting in their jacket pocket.

Safety to switch

But the overarching news here should be seen as offering huge reassurances that Apple does indeed have a lengthy road map for processor development, which means all the inherent advantages of the M-series Apple Silicon design have a way to grow yet.

This is of course going to translate into even more major Mac deployments in future as larger entities see these plans as reassurance that a Mac upgrade is a stable choice, even as Windows continues its decline.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.