Intel 'Cannon Lake' Core processor suitable for MacBook Pro, iMac likely delayed, could sl...

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited April 2017
Cannon Lake, Intel's 10nm evolution of Core processors, could arrive later than initially believed, after comments by a company executive suggest delays in development and mass production of the new processor -- potentially endangering a rumored 32 GB MacBook Pro release in 2017




Speaking at an Intel manufacturing event at the end of March, Venkata Renduchintala, president of PC, Internet of Things, and chip design for Intel, advised the shipment timeline is hard to nail down, reports PC World. "In terms of first shipments, whether it's before the end of the year, or just after the beginning of [next] year, it's too close to call," said the president.

Despite the uncertainty, Renduchintala believes Intel will still provide Cannon Lake chips to vendors within an appropriate timeline, with no major deviations to device producer timetables expected to occur.

Cannon Lake will be the first generation of Intel chips produced using a 10-nanometer process, a die shrink that aims to provide performance improvements compared to previous generations, as well as a reduction in power consumption. This makes the processor more attractive for producers of battery-powered, where power consumption is a major concern.

For Apple, Cannon Lake processors include support for LPDDR4 memory, something which could allow for the creation of a MacBook Pro with up to 32 gigabytes of memory. The MacBook Pro is unlikely to see a change to 32GB of RAM in the short term, as Apple is not expected to equip a MacBook Pro with a new RAM controller allowing for 32GB of more power-hungry DDR4 support. Compounding the problem, the expected 14nm process Kaby Lake refresh said to be called "Coffee Lake" doesn't support LPDDR4 -- which would allow for 32GB of RAM without a new RAM controller.

"Coffee Lake" is an optimization expected for release in the second half of 2017 that is said to offer a 15-percent processing improvement on Kaby Lake. The fourth chip generation using the 14nm process, "Coffee Lake" will become the third "tock" in a row of Intel's "tick-tock" development strategy, a concept Intel retired in March 2016.

The current 14nm Kaby Lake is thought to be the next processor to be used in a rumored 2017 refresh of the MacBook Pro, with a number of processors from the line reportedly making an appearance in beta code of macOS Sierra 10.12.4. Compared to the current Skylake generation, Kaby Lake as only a slight processing power increase, but with bigger improvements to the onboard GPU and power efficiency.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 65
    Please, for the love of the company, get off intel chips.... 
    qwweraSolidoozydozencoolfactorRacerhomieXbdkennedy1002zj5001r00fus1stantheman
  • Reply 2 of 65
    Imagine the uproar if Apple waited for the this chip to ship? 

    I hope Apple has a skunkworks processor project that will relieve them of their dependency on Intel.
    qwweraSolidoozydozenstantheman
  • Reply 3 of 65
    Everyone saw this coming.
    qwweraSolidoozydozenspheric
  • Reply 4 of 65
    JinTechJinTech Posts: 1,020member
    It's G5/AIM alliance fiasco all over again.

    If Apple do not come out with an updated iMac this year they should at least issue a press release explaining what the bottleneck is otherwise your average consumer will just see Apple as not updating their products and will look at other options.
    1983mwhiteSolidoozydozenelijahgr00fus1watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 65
    JinTech said:
    It's G5/AIM alliance fiasco all over again.

    If Apple do not come out with an updated iMac this year they should at least issue a press release explaining what the bottleneck is otherwise your average consumer will just see Apple as not updating their products and will look at other options.
    PR nightmare if they do.
    stantheman
  • Reply 6 of 65
    "Intel needs competition," said no PC fan ever.
    1983brucemcRacerhomieXbrakken
  • Reply 7 of 65
    ktappektappe Posts: 823member
    This sucks. But as much as it sucks, at least it's a *reason* for delaying iMac and MacBook updates. We have yet to hear a reason why Apple hasn't updated the MacPro in 1200 days.
    tallest skil1983argonautdoozydozenfrankieelijahg
  • Reply 8 of 65
    emoelleremoeller Posts: 574member
    Yup time, once again, for Apple to control its own destiny by developing and providing proprietary chips sets for all of its devices.  The company was never large enough to do that in the past, due to the extraordinary costs of design/fab facilities.  But they have the scale now (if you consider all of their devices) and could leapfrog everyone now.  
    1983argonautqwweradoozydozenedredavon b7watto_cobraRoyfb
  • Reply 9 of 65
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    This right here is why Apple can't deliver laptops that meet their objectives... because Intel is wrecking their roadmap. Unfortunately there isn't a better option here EXCEPT of course... Apple. Slap a full powered quad core A11X in a laptop and lets see what happens!
    qwweratallest skildoozydozenedredr00fus1watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 65
    appexappex Posts: 687member
    What about Mac Pro update? Overdue for more than three years now.
    longpathtallest skilbrucemcdoozydozenfrankie
  • Reply 11 of 65
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    Couldn't they just purchase AMD (like Imagination, pocket change for Apple) with their x86 compatible architecture, improve it, rebrand it and then use it in their Mac line? They'll also of course purchase a decent GPU architecture at the same time...monopolies issues maybe?
    edited April 2017 elijahgwatto_cobrabigpics
  • Reply 12 of 65
    JinTech said:
    It's G5/AIM alliance fiasco all over again.

    If Apple do not come out with an updated iMac this year they should at least issue a press release explaining what the bottleneck is otherwise your average consumer will just see Apple as not updating their products and will look at other options.
    You've got to be kidding. Apple never tells precisely why they don't do things. They may give some vague excuse but that's about it. They'll say something like, "The components aren't up to our high standards so give up your hopes of a new product." I'd probably like to hear a reasonable explanation to ease my consternation but I know it's not going to happen. I thought there were notebooks from other companies supporting 32GB RAM but maybe I'm wrong.

    As for the MacPro, I'm completely puzzled about that product. I'm thinking most consumers or professionals don't have any interest in owning one. Sure I've heard some video editing people saying they're worthwhile using but that is such a tiny segment. Apple should try to reach a wider range of professional users for a MacPro. As a consumer, I might be interested in owning a six-core MacPro but those damn GPUs are too proprietary and not upgradeable in a practical sense. Besides, even those refurbished ones I think are too darn expensive for the age of the product. Aside from the cutesy trash-can design, I really can't think of anything particularly great about it.

    It looks as though I'm going to have to wait for a high-end iMac and be stuck with a relatively weak mobile GPU.  I don't have much of a choice if I want a Mac.
    edited April 2017
  • Reply 13 of 65
    bsimpsenbsimpsen Posts: 398member
    In light of Apple's announcement to Imagination Technologies that they are going it alone, it seems ever more likely to me that Apple will eventually do the same with Intel, and perhaps even ARM. I may be misremembering, but I think Apple is also developing internal cellular baseband technologies. I would not be surprised by a future in which Apple seeks nothing more than foundry relationships for construction of the silicon in their products, with decreasing IP relationships across the board.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 65
    adrayvenadrayven Posts: 460member
    "Intel needs competition," said no PC fan ever.
    Except every other PC fan you apparently have not met. ROFL.. Virtually the entire community of PC users rejoiced when AMD Ryzen came out and look forward to AMD pushing Intel even harder.

    I honestly hope AMD keeps this trend, and gets Apple's attention in the MacBook Pro lineup. I wouldn't mind seeing an comparable AMD APU, based n Ryzen, with R series GPU built in, touting 6 and 8 core multi-threaded APU's in a MacBook Pro.

    This is what Intel should really be shaking in it's boots about. With competition, comes competitive pricing, both from AMD and Intel. Both PC market and Apple Mac/Macbook markets benefit from this..
    edited April 2017 doozydozenelijahgbigpicsMacsplosion
  • Reply 15 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    ktappe said:
    This sucks. But as much as it sucks, at least it's a *reason* for delaying iMac and MacBook updates. We have yet to hear a reason why Apple hasn't updated the MacPro in 1200 days.
    It's not a hard puzzle to solve.
  • Reply 16 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member

    sog35 said:
    Why does this even matter?  The PC market means nothing. Its shrinking every year. 

    Look 10 years in the future. Do you see the PC market growing? HELL NO. 

    The future is iPad/iPhone/Wearbles. That's where Apple will invest in.
    So because one area of Apple's business is more popular than another Apple should drop it? Brilliant¡ 

    In the first three months of their 2017 calendar they sold 5.3 million Macs for a revenue and profit in the billions. Do you even know how much that would hurt AAPL if that were to vanish because, as you put it, "the PC market means nothing"?

    You sound just like asshat pundits, like John C. Dvorak, that said Apple should abandon the Mac because the iPod was so popular and growing.

    PS: The iPad has been decreasing for years, so Apple should abandon that, too, according to your logic.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    1983 said:
    Couldn't they just purchase AMD (like Imagination, pocket change for Apple) with their x86 compatible architecture, improve it, rebrand it and then use it in their Mac line? They'll also of course purchase a decent GPU architecture at the same time...monopolies issues maybe?
    1) They never bought them, just owned 9.5%. They weren't even the largest investor.

    2) Did you see that they're going to stop using ImgTech so they can build in-house.
  • Reply 18 of 65
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    appex said:
    What about Mac Pro update? Overdue for more than three years now.
    Well, the appropriate chips have only existed for about a single year. Still Intel’s fault, but Apple should have released on the day the chips went to OEM (in the past, Apple has even gotten chips from Intel EARLY).
    doozydozenelijahg
  • Reply 19 of 65
    jameskatt2jameskatt2 Posts: 720member
    This is seriously disappointing.
    Intel is SO SLOW.

    Apple needs to buy AMD and Toshiba's NAND plant and own its own computer CPU and GPU.


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 65
    jameskatt2jameskatt2 Posts: 720member

    appex said:
    What about Mac Pro update? Overdue for more than three years now.
    You mean the Mac Pro 2013 is now FOUR YEARS OLD.
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