Rumor: Apple working on new device family under codename 'Star' [u]

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 90
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    ascii said:
    Darn, sounds like its not a laptop. What could "combo station" mean though?
    Remember the DuoDock? Apple has had new patents for quite some time now.



    I had one of those duos and docks. It was my first mac too. I wore it out. 

    While the designs and concepts are intriguing, I don't think they play out well now, given the existing capabilities. In the duo era, communications between devices was slow, unreliable, and confusing. Plugging it in to a desktop setup made huge sense, and solved many problems. But my iPhone talks to my MBA (and my iMac) seamlessly through a host of options. What is now gained by shoving the mobile device into another? 

    The duo dock I had was a clip on device that gave me a color display on by desk, while having access to the display on the duo. I was one of the first people to have a multi-monitor setup. Man, was that slick for the day (1993 or so.)

    Maybe the iPhone inset setup works like a big Touch Bar? That's kinda cool.
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 42 of 90
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    bluefire1 said:
    George Gilder said we're rapidly approaching the post computer age.
    Just in time for Apple to lead the way and have Star be the next generation iPad-- or go beyond it.
    Gilder was predicting free bandwidth everywhere right before the “dotcom” implosion. I don’t trust his predictions.
  • Reply 43 of 90
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    I foresee nothing, I'll just wait for Apple to announce what they'll be selling..... :p
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 44 of 90
    wozwozwozwoz Posts: 263member
    Time they dropped iOS: the only thing you should swipe is your bottom.
  • Reply 45 of 90
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    ascii said:
    Darn, sounds like its not a laptop. What could "combo station" mean though?
    Remember the DuoDock? Apple has had new patents for quite some time now.



    These are gross. If anyone wants these they should check out PadFone. All compromise and no benefit.
    raoulduke42
  • Reply 46 of 90
    omasouomasou Posts: 564member
    Sounds like Apple's version of a Chromebook! Something sorely needed as the current crop of Chromebook and Google Classroom/Google Apps isn't cutting it.
  • Reply 47 of 90
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    This is exciting news because if Apple wants to retire the Mac I would rather move to an iOS notebook than to Windows.

    Also, when Apple retired the Airport a few weeks ago, I and others said it might be because they were moving away from WiFi and focussing on 5G cellular (where the puck is going). And now we have a rumor of a notebook with cellular (joining the phone, ipad and watch). 
    I wouldn't bet on Apple getting rid of Mac or getting rid of WiFi.
    I don't think Mac will die, it will just transition to being iOS with a desktop mode. Someone made a Tweet today pointing out that macOS/OS X is now older than classic MacOS was when Steve gave it a mock funeral. Did you regard the Mac as having died when it made that transition? Because if not, the switch from current macOS to iOS desktop actually be a smaller change. It wouldn't even be a kernel change this time. So if the Mac didn't die that time it wouldn't die this time.

    I don't think they will remove the WiFi radios from their devices, they're cheap enough to just leave in, but they will/have stop selling WiFi infrastructure of their own and start including cellular in everything. A future where little cellular radios are ubiquitous in most smart devices seems to be the future. This how small the Apple Watch is and even it has one.
    You can really see an iMac booting up with iOS on it? I see no future where that happens. Zero chance it's just a bunch of giant icons designed for the iPad on a 27" iMac. macOS on ARM, absolutely; but iOS instead of macOS on a Mac that has no touchscreen display, absolutely not. The OSes are defined by their respective UIs and I/O, not their processor architecture. This is why iOS is unique from tvOS while all running similar ARM configurations.
    As a programmer I see an OS as primarily defined by its APIs not its user interface, and adding a new shell to iOS does not seem like that big of a deal to me. 
    Then you know APIs can be the same disparate Uis and architectures. From last year's WWDC…
    Yup they are gradually unifying APIs on macOS and iOS, and Spotlight is one example. But I just see that as them encouraging Mac developers to code more and more to iOS APIs, so that when they eventually replace macOS with iOS Desktop, the programmers will find their apps are 90% ported already.  

    They have been doing the same thing on the hardware side, ever so slowly making Mac hardware more iOS like. Fewer and fewer replaceable parts. More wireless and less ports. Keyboards so flat they're not much different to typing on a touch screen. Tim Cook likes boiling frogs, he is a patient man.
    So you think they'll replace macOS with something that looks and functions the exact same way for the user on the Mac but cal it iOS Desktop, not macOS to refer to the OS that runs on a Mac and only a Mac? As watchOS grows to make it better for developers do you also think that will happen there, so that watchOS will eventually replace iOS and be called iOS Watchface on the iPhone instead of simply referring to it as iOS? I don't see either of these things ever happening.

    What do you see as the benefit to name a unique OS the same as an OS for a completely different device platform with different I/O? Even if Apple could theoretically make it so that a 3rd party developer could develop for the iPhone and it be 100% compatible for the Mac despite the extremely different UIs and I/O. the branding is for its users, not for coders. So how does calling macOS on a 27" iMac Pro iOS Desktop work for the user or Apple's branding?
    And they will all run the same OS with different shells. I have been calling it iOS but it could just be appleOS. The benefit to the user would be that you could buy one app that runs on everything, just switching its user interface as needed.
    There is no benefit to the user, they would simply see one app with a compatible device list as they already do on the App Store.  Allowing a device to run an app with the wrong UI didn’t work well for remote GUI desktops on an iPad or for Windows 8 & 10.
    Solimattinoz
  • Reply 48 of 90
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    macxpress said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    This is exciting news because if Apple wants to retire the Mac I would rather move to an iOS notebook than to Windows.

    Also, when Apple retired the Airport a few weeks ago, I and others said it might be because they were moving away from WiFi and focussing on 5G cellular (where the puck is going). And now we have a rumor of a notebook with cellular (joining the phone, ipad and watch). 
    I wouldn't bet on Apple getting rid of Mac or getting rid of WiFi.
    I don't think Mac will die, it will just transition to being iOS with a desktop mode. Someone made a Tweet today pointing out that macOS/OS X is now older than classic MacOS was when Steve gave it a mock funeral. Did you regard the Mac as having died when it made that transition? Because if not, the switch from current macOS to iOS desktop actually be a smaller change. It wouldn't even be a kernel change this time. So if the Mac didn't die that time it wouldn't die this time.

    I don't think they will remove the WiFi radios from their devices, they're cheap enough to just leave in, but they will/have stop selling WiFi infrastructure of their own and start including cellular in everything. A future where little cellular radios are ubiquitous in most smart devices seems to be the future. This how small the Apple Watch is and even it has one.
    You can really see an iMac booting up with iOS on it? I see no future where that happens. Zero chance it's just a bunch of giant icons designed for the iPad on a 27" iMac. macOS on ARM, absolutely; but iOS instead of macOS on a Mac that has no touchscreen display, absolutely not.
    Yeah I agree...I see absolutely no benefit for that at all. When you buy an iMac (or any Mac) you expect a desktop experience. Putting iOS on a Mac as its main OS its just pointless IMO and if anyone thinks this will enable Apple to make this magical $200 Mac with a 13" iOS Book then you're living in a fantasy world. 

    What I think this is...is just simply a Mac running with their own CPU/GPU like I've said in the past that they're working on (Mac mini and MacBook Air). We'll see exactly how much iOS stuff is on this. Since iOS obviously runs on ARM already, Apple could just be using a custom macOS with some iOS stuff implemented into it to make it work better with ARM, but this doesn't mean that its gonna have an iOS type UI. Like I said, I think people expect a desktop experience when they get a Mac and if you try to merge iOS and macOS you get crapOS in the end. 
    iOS is an operating system and can have any kind of frontend. So if they bring iOS to the desktop - which makes a lot of sense - they’ll provide us with a desktop based GUI.

    The irony is that iOS is originally derived from macOS, and macOS has a Unix kernel. iOS gained a lot of unique components and security models - it’s been a long, long time since these operating systems branched out and now can be considered totally different systems by now. Because of iOS’s focus on security and mobile optimization throughout the years, the ‘heart’ is much more suitable for desktop use than macOS. More lightweight and modern. If they rethink a desktop GUI experience for iOS  you end up with a much more secure and elegant operating system compared to macOS. It will be much more locked down also though; no more root admin access, terminal and all of that. Much more like ChromeOS in a sense that is a walled garden. So it will not be a great OS for people who like to tinker with it (then again, should it? There are thousands of Linux and Unix distros).
    radarthekat
  • Reply 49 of 90
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    macxpress said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    This is exciting news because if Apple wants to retire the Mac I would rather move to an iOS notebook than to Windows.

    Also, when Apple retired the Airport a few weeks ago, I and others said it might be because they were moving away from WiFi and focussing on 5G cellular (where the puck is going). And now we have a rumor of a notebook with cellular (joining the phone, ipad and watch). 
    I wouldn't bet on Apple getting rid of Mac or getting rid of WiFi.
    I don't think Mac will die, it will just transition to being iOS with a desktop mode. Someone made a Tweet today pointing out that macOS/OS X is now older than classic MacOS was when Steve gave it a mock funeral. Did you regard the Mac as having died when it made that transition? Because if not, the switch from current macOS to iOS desktop actually be a smaller change. It wouldn't even be a kernel change this time. So if the Mac didn't die that time it wouldn't die this time.

    I don't think they will remove the WiFi radios from their devices, they're cheap enough to just leave in, but they will/have stop selling WiFi infrastructure of their own and start including cellular in everything. A future where little cellular radios are ubiquitous in most smart devices seems to be the future. This how small the Apple Watch is and even it has one.
    You can really see an iMac booting up with iOS on it? I see no future where that happens. Zero chance it's just a bunch of giant icons designed for the iPad on a 27" iMac. macOS on ARM, absolutely; but iOS instead of macOS on a Mac that has no touchscreen display, absolutely not.
    Yeah I agree...I see absolutely no benefit for that at all. When you buy an iMac (or any Mac) you expect a desktop experience. Putting iOS on a Mac as its main OS its just pointless IMO and if anyone thinks this will enable Apple to make this magical $200 Mac with a 13" iOS Book then you're living in a fantasy world. 

    What I think this is...is just simply a Mac running with their own CPU/GPU like I've said in the past that they're working on (Mac mini and MacBook Air). We'll see exactly how much iOS stuff is on this. Since iOS obviously runs on ARM already, Apple could just be using a custom macOS with some iOS stuff implemented into it to make it work better with ARM, but this doesn't mean that its gonna have an iOS type UI. Like I said, I think people expect a desktop experience when they get a Mac and if you try to merge iOS and macOS you get crapOS in the end. 
    iOS is an operating system and can have any kind of frontend. So if they bring iOS to the desktop - which makes a lot of sense - they’ll provide us with a desktop based GUI.
    No, iOS is a very specific OS that can have any kind of front end, just as macOS and tvOS are a specific OS that can have any kind of front end. The OS for the Mac is macOS.  This shouldn't be difficult for anyone to understand. Whether it's Moto, PPC, Intel, ARM, or an entirely new architecture, the OS is still the OS. 

    The irony is that iOS is originally derived from macOS, and macOS has a Unix kernel. iOS gained a lot of unique components and security models - it’s been a long, long time since these operating systems branched out and now can be considered totally different systems by now. Because of iOS’s focus on security and mobile optimization throughout the years, the ‘heart’ is much more suitable for desktop use than macOS. More lightweight and modern. If they rethink a desktop GUI experience for iOS  you end up with a much more secure and elegant operating system compared to macOS. It will be much more locked down also though; no more root admin access, terminal and all of that. Much more like ChromeOS in a sense that is a walled garden. So it will not be a great OS for people who like to tinker with it (then again, should it? There are thousands of Linux and Unix distros).

    1) Ironic? WTF is opposite that what is expected?

    2) It's a Unix kernel? Come on, son! It's s a POSIX compliant operating system built on top of the XNU kernel with with standard Unix facilities available, or say it's Unix-like. 

    3) iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and audioOS all have the same or similar kernel and run Darwin at its core. Trying to claim these will all be named iOS because they use Apple silicon makes no sense. Changing the name doesn't make it more secure. We finally have a decent naming convention for all of Apple's OSes and you people want to call it all iOS for  the stupidest reason.

    edited May 2018
  • Reply 50 of 90
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    This is exciting news because if Apple wants to retire the Mac I would rather move to an iOS notebook than to Windows.

    Also, when Apple retired the Airport a few weeks ago, I and others said it might be because they were moving away from WiFi and focussing on 5G cellular (where the puck is going). And now we have a rumor of a notebook with cellular (joining the phone, ipad and watch). 
    I wouldn't bet on Apple getting rid of Mac or getting rid of WiFi.
    I don't think Mac will die, it will just transition to being iOS with a desktop mode. Someone made a Tweet today pointing out that macOS/OS X is now older than classic MacOS was when Steve gave it a mock funeral. Did you regard the Mac as having died when it made that transition? Because if not, the switch from current macOS to iOS desktop actually be a smaller change. It wouldn't even be a kernel change this time. So if the Mac didn't die that time it wouldn't die this time.

    I don't think they will remove the WiFi radios from their devices, they're cheap enough to just leave in, but they will/have stop selling WiFi infrastructure of their own and start including cellular in everything. A future where little cellular radios are ubiquitous in most smart devices seems to be the future. This how small the Apple Watch is and even it has one.
    You can really see an iMac booting up with iOS on it? I see no future where that happens. Zero chance it's just a bunch of giant icons designed for the iPad on a 27" iMac. macOS on ARM, absolutely; but iOS instead of macOS on a Mac that has no touchscreen display, absolutely not. The OSes are defined by their respective UIs and I/O, not their processor architecture. This is why iOS is unique from tvOS while all running similar ARM configurations.
    As a programmer I see an OS as primarily defined by its APIs not its user interface, and adding a new shell to iOS does not seem like that big of a deal to me. 
    The OS itself is partly defined by its APIs of which UIs are a subset. However, the brand of OS and it’s UI follow the device form-factor.  The inevitable hybridisation of appleOS is a pie which can be sliced by UI/Core OS/Silicon. MacOS’ codebase will die but the brand and UI will live on and users will be none the wiser.

    The thing that’s baking my noodle is; with so much obsolescence, should Apple bother with ARM ISA for macOS at all or just cut to their own ISA with Swift runtime?
    radarthekat
  • Reply 51 of 90
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    mcdave said:
    The thing that’s baking my noodle is; with so much obsolescence, should Apple bother with ARM ISA for macOS at all or just cut to their own ISA with Swift runtime?
    That would depend on whether Apple is using ARM's instruction set or not. As far as I know they are. What have you heard about Apple developing their own ISA that is more efficient? Can swift even be used to write such low-level code and have it be better than what ARM offers?
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 52 of 90
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    techrules said:
    Now that would make a ton of sense and hope it is true. There just does not seem to be much coming out of Apple any longer and really someone needs to compete with Google instead of giving everything to them. Our school use to be almost all Apple and last year they replaced the last Macs with Chromebooks and honestly hard to see them going back to Apple. My wife went to the same school district and she used Apple at this school and it had been all Apple for 25 years. Saw the post that Google has now even passed Amazon in smart speaker sales. That happen way quicker than I would have thought even possible. Only Apple and Google have mobile platforms and so it is on Apple to make sure that Google does not win everything. Last week Google at I/O shared Chromebook sales grew 50% YoY. Looking at the Mac numbers they were higher in 2015 than in 2016 or 2017. Apple needs to get doing something instead of just sitting back.
    Nothing it can do.  A vote for Chromebook is a vote for mediocrity and Apple doesn’t do mediocre.

    Google are winning because they are group-centric and Apple products/services are person-centric.  People are social creatures hence No man is an island so Apple are the Maldives - beautiful but doomed.  Whether it’s family-sharing meets macOS server meets iCloud this is where Apple should be spending.
  • Reply 53 of 90
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    I find it weird to have a water resistant housing, in this (presumably) early prototype stage. If true, then the water resistant, and sealed housing factor must be key to what they're making.
    Possibly a future school computer. Post iPad. Qi charging, sealed, water resistant, and no ports? Presumably with the full X-Code suite so that it can be self reproductive.
    radarthekat
  • Reply 54 of 90
    Maybe Apple will finally develop that hybrid computer they patented years ago. 

    Imagine a tablet with the heft of a 15” MBP, that slides into the side of an iMac. Sort of like how Lenovo’s have always been able to dock into a system that expands the components and allows you to have a larger screen. Similar to the PowerBook Duo Apple had back in the day of their portables. 
    Yeah, I was pretty enamored of the DuoDock stuff back in the day, but these days it seems like a waste of a really nice second display. The first DuoDock laptops were only black and white, so it kind of made sense to put that away in favor of a much larger color CRT... but these days, the "retina" displays are gorgeous and larger and perfectly useful for leaving Messages up or tool bars and such. Still, folks use "clamshell" mode all over the place so I can see that this is just a personal preference kind of thing.
  • Reply 55 of 90
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    crowley said:
    Though they could also just choose to keep calling this new version macOS and simply state that in version 10._ they're breaking compatibility and dropping a ton of APIs and requiring developers to use the new ones.

    I would imagine that's the point that you start talking about macOS 11, not 10.x

    Though I agree with you, and think there would be good name recognition from a common OS name, especially if this supposed new product line comes under a new brand.

    Mac, with OS
    iPhone, with OS
    iPad, with OS
    Tv, with OS
    "Star", with OS

    That's a good consumer sell, even if it loses a bit of clarity for developers.  I think Apple cares more about the consumer.
    Don't quit your day jobs, guys, really... Nope, Apple is not going to switch everything over to "Apple OS", nor is that a good consumer sell.
    fastasleep
  • Reply 56 of 90
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    Soli said:
    macxpress said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    Soli said:
    ascii said:
    This is exciting news because if Apple wants to retire the Mac I would rather move to an iOS notebook than to Windows.

    Also, when Apple retired the Airport a few weeks ago, I and others said it might be because they were moving away from WiFi and focussing on 5G cellular (where the puck is going). And now we have a rumor of a notebook with cellular (joining the phone, ipad and watch). 
    I wouldn't bet on Apple getting rid of Mac or getting rid of WiFi.
    I don't think Mac will die, it will just transition to being iOS with a desktop mode. Someone made a Tweet today pointing out that macOS/OS X is now older than classic MacOS was when Steve gave it a mock funeral. Did you regard the Mac as having died when it made that transition? Because if not, the switch from current macOS to iOS desktop actually be a smaller change. It wouldn't even be a kernel change this time. So if the Mac didn't die that time it wouldn't die this time.

    I don't think they will remove the WiFi radios from their devices, they're cheap enough to just leave in, but they will/have stop selling WiFi infrastructure of their own and start including cellular in everything. A future where little cellular radios are ubiquitous in most smart devices seems to be the future. This how small the Apple Watch is and even it has one.
    You can really see an iMac booting up with iOS on it? I see no future where that happens. Zero chance it's just a bunch of giant icons designed for the iPad on a 27" iMac. macOS on ARM, absolutely; but iOS instead of macOS on a Mac that has no touchscreen display, absolutely not.
    Yeah I agree...I see absolutely no benefit for that at all. When you buy an iMac (or any Mac) you expect a desktop experience. Putting iOS on a Mac as its main OS its just pointless IMO and if anyone thinks this will enable Apple to make this magical $200 Mac with a 13" iOS Book then you're living in a fantasy world. 

    What I think this is...is just simply a Mac running with their own CPU/GPU like I've said in the past that they're working on (Mac mini and MacBook Air). We'll see exactly how much iOS stuff is on this. Since iOS obviously runs on ARM already, Apple could just be using a custom macOS with some iOS stuff implemented into it to make it work better with ARM, but this doesn't mean that its gonna have an iOS type UI. Like I said, I think people expect a desktop experience when they get a Mac and if you try to merge iOS and macOS you get crapOS in the end. 
    iOS is an operating system and can have any kind of frontend. So if they bring iOS to the desktop - which makes a lot of sense - they’ll provide us with a desktop based GUI.
    No, iOS is a very specific OS that can have any kind of front end, just as macOS and tvOS are a specific OS that can have any kind of front end. The OS for the Mac is macOS.  This shouldn't be difficult for anyone to understand. Whether it's Moto, PPC, Intel, ARM, or an entirely new architecture, the OS is still the OS. 

    The irony is that iOS is originally derived from macOS, and macOS has a Unix kernel. iOS gained a lot of unique components and security models - it’s been a long, long time since these operating systems branched out and now can be considered totally different systems by now. Because of iOS’s focus on security and mobile optimization throughout the years, the ‘heart’ is much more suitable for desktop use than macOS. More lightweight and modern. If they rethink a desktop GUI experience for iOS  you end up with a much more secure and elegant operating system compared to macOS. It will be much more locked down also though; no more root admin access, terminal and all of that. Much more like ChromeOS in a sense that is a walled garden. So it will not be a great OS for people who like to tinker with it (then again, should it? There are thousands of Linux and Unix distros).

    1) Ironic? WTF is opposite that what is expected?

    2) It's a Unix kernel? Come on, son! It's s a POSIX compliant operating system built on top of the XNU kernel with with standard Unix facilities available, or say it's Unix-like. 

    3) iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and audioOS all have the same or similar kernel and run Darwin at its core. Trying to claim these will all be named iOS because they use Apple silicon makes no sense. Changing the name doesn't make it more secure. We finally have a decent naming convention for all of Apple's OSes and you people want to call it all iOS for  the stupidest reason.

    That’s what I’m saying. Why are you saying I don’t understand it and then basically saying the same thing?

    Stop being so aggressive towards me. although that’s a tone that seems to be your default setting. “Wtf ironic” is totally unneeded. You can address me like a normal person okay? 

    if you want to win on terminology (e.g Darwin kernel), ok you win. I chose to simplify my post, not to show who’s has the largest technical penis. I develop for these OSes myself (although I am not anymore for WatchOS).

    TvOS is a simple iOS derivative. watchOS too. They are branched off from iOS and all have their own frontend and services included, modified kernels etc based on the usecase. Basically what you said and what I said in my original post. If you chose to ignore the overall message but attack me on small stuff, you should consider taking a fitness class or yoga to get rid of your negative energy.

    edited May 2018 radarthekat
  • Reply 57 of 90
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    Soli said:
    mcdave said:
    The thing that’s baking my noodle is; with so much obsolescence, should Apple bother with ARM ISA for macOS at all or just cut to their own ISA with Swift runtime?
    That would depend on whether Apple is using ARM's instruction set or not. As far as I know they are. What have you heard about Apple developing their own ISA that is more efficient? Can swift even be used to write such low-level code and have it be better than what ARM offers?
    Nothing but total speculation on my part.  Their outperformance with ARM-compatible processors hints at something under the hood beyond the likes of Qualcomm & Samsung and my guess is the PA/Intrinsity acquisitions were about building micro-architecture IP.  They also have a lot of silicon beyond that covered by ARM ISA (ISP, GPU, Neural).  The ISA is the only layer of the stack they don’t own (A-series) and flattening that stack is the key to power/performance efficiency. If they wanted to, they could add web rendering, image/video/audio signal silicon accessible via iOS frameworks in Swift only and do what they want in between.  Basically, ditch what we know as a CPU, move to a real APU (not AMDs version) and ‘emulate’ legacy ISAs as needed; appleOS on appleISA.
    radarthekat
  • Reply 58 of 90
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    mcdave said:
    MacOS’ codebase will die but the brand and UI will live on and users will be none the wiser.

    The thing that’s baking my noodle is; with so much obsolescence, should Apple bother with ARM ISA for macOS at all or just cut to their own ISA with Swift runtime?

    I agree that when they first migrate the Mac to iOS with a desktop shell they would still call it macOS (maybe macOS 11) in order to minimise disruption to consumers, similar to how when they changed from PPC to Intel they tried to make everything exactly the same. But I think in the long run they would rename it to Apple OS, just because that's their branding/naming scheme for everything now, e.g. Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Music, Apple Park basically its the replacement for the old i-branding and I think over time they'll gradually rebrand everything.

    Making a silicon version of the Swift runtime, there'd have to be some pretty big performance gains for them to lock themselves down that much... the hardware Java CPUs never took off. And a bunch of the kernel is written in C. I don't think they would do that, maybe a coprocessor at best, interesting thought though.
    radarthekat
  • Reply 60 of 90
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    mcdave said:
    Soli said:
    mcdave said:
    The thing that’s baking my noodle is; with so much obsolescence, should Apple bother with ARM ISA for macOS at all or just cut to their own ISA with Swift runtime?
    That would depend on whether Apple is using ARM's instruction set or not. As far as I know they are. What have you heard about Apple developing their own ISA that is more efficient? Can swift even be used to write such low-level code and have it be better than what ARM offers?
    Nothing but total speculation on my part.  Their outperformance with ARM-compatible processors hints at something under the hood beyond the likes of Qualcomm & Samsung and my guess is the PA/Intrinsity acquisitions were about building micro-architecture IP.  They also have a lot of silicon beyond that covered by ARM ISA (ISP, GPU, Neural).  The ISA is the only layer of the stack they don’t own (A-series) and flattening that stack is the key to power/performance efficiency. If they wanted to, they could add web rendering, image/video/audio signal silicon accessible via iOS frameworks in Swift only and do what they want in between.  Basically, ditch what we know as a CPU, move to a real APU (not AMDs version) and ‘emulate’ legacy ISAs as needed; appleOS on appleISA.
    That seems like a major undertaking. Perhaps like how all their OSes are under the OS X umbrella, they could eventually replace Darwin with appleOS once it's all Apple silicon and they writing their own ISA becomes the best move for their chips.
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