Will it be possible, eventually, for Apple to make faster SoCs than the fastest most powerful intel Xenon chips?
In theory, yes. Shrinking the dies usually speeds up the chip as signals have less distance to cover. However, there is more to it than that such as processor instruction sets. But as a consumer, you won't likely be able to afford Intel's highest-end Xeon processors. You also won't want to invest in the cooling solution needed for those high-end Xeon processors to keep them cool. Apple is going to be able to make the power available to users without the heat those Intel processors make. Actually, Amazon already has its own ARM-based servers for AWS that are just as powerful as their X86 Xeon server counterparts, so I know what Apple is doing is already feasible. As consumers, we are going to get from Apple small, light, and powerful ARM-based computers that aren't going to heat up the entire room. We likely won't need some big honking two-PCI slot GPUs just to play a decent-looking game. Nvidia RTX 2080's may soon be a thing of the past. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but only time will tell.
Nice to see a modicum of intelligence in this comment section. I know things have shifted fundamentally on the Mac when the biggest argument against it comes from naysayers clinging to the last vestige of hope that developers won't develop mac games. Although myself and many other pro users can care less about games, the argument that AAA games will not flourish on the Mac is based on some seriously flawed logic.
Apple has provided so many outstanding developer tools, and emulation even on the lowly A12z is far beyond what many of us imagined. Emulation on Apple's upcoming Z chips may soon outclass Intel's chips running native apps. On top of that, AAA game developers will always target the upper limits of a platform and they will do the same by writing games specifically designed to take advantage of the extra power and functionality provided by insanely fast apple Z chips. Build it and the gamers will come, just for the bragging rights alone.
Sorry naysayers the writing is on the wall.
This is a solid post. This migration will actually increase development of Mac software by third parties because now they can develop for the entire ecosystem in one shot. They make full power applications for the mac and port versions for iPadOS and PhoneOS/TVOS if needed. This provides greater economic incentive for Mac software development as they can access the entire Apple market where as now -- MacOS development for software stands on its own.
More importantly, If and I understand that this is still an If -- Apple can demonstrate the same performance in processing and graphics with this new architecture other companies like Microsoft, Google, etc. will want to do this for the advantages that ARM brings. Following them will be OEMs who want to build hardware on the ARM architecture.
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More importantly, If and I understand that this is still an If -- Apple can demonstrate the same performance in processing and graphics with this new architecture other companies like Microsoft, Google, etc. will want to do this for the advantages that ARM brings. Following them will be OEMs who want to build hardware on the ARM architecture.