Apple might have exclusive on Intel's 28W 'Ice Lake' processors
Intel appears to have made its speediest 10th-generation Ice Lake mobile processors exclusive to Apple's MacBook lineup.
Credit: Intel
Although there have been widespread rumors that Apple will switch to a first-party, ARM-based chip for its MacBook lineup, it looks like Apple's relationship with Intel isn't suffering in the short term.
As was first spotted by NotebookCheck, Intel's Core i7-1068G7 has been removed from the company's ARK database.
The chipmaker seems to have replaced that chip with the Core i7-1068NG7 SKU, the 10nm, 28-watt processor found in the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, as well as a new Core i5-1038NG67 chip.
Per NotebookCheck and Geekbench results, the "N" designation in the moniker is reserved for Apple-exclusive chips. In other words, Intel now appears to be marking certain 28W Ice Lake processors as chips unique to Apple notebooks.
Credit: Intel
Although there have been widespread rumors that Apple will switch to a first-party, ARM-based chip for its MacBook lineup, it looks like Apple's relationship with Intel isn't suffering in the short term.
As was first spotted by NotebookCheck, Intel's Core i7-1068G7 has been removed from the company's ARK database.
The chipmaker seems to have replaced that chip with the Core i7-1068NG7 SKU, the 10nm, 28-watt processor found in the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, as well as a new Core i5-1038NG67 chip.
Per NotebookCheck and Geekbench results, the "N" designation in the moniker is reserved for Apple-exclusive chips. In other words, Intel now appears to be marking certain 28W Ice Lake processors as chips unique to Apple notebooks.
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As was first spotted by NotebookCheck, Intel's Core i7-1068G7 has been removed from the company's ARK database."
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Fall 2019, is when Ice Lake came to market. Razer launched a 3 lbs 13" laptop with a 25 W i7-1065G7, they also had another laptop with the 15 W i7-1065G7 and a GTX 1650 Max-Q 4 GB. Here we are in May and Razer already refreshed that laptop with the 25 W i7-1065G7 and a GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q 4 GB.
So while Apple is waiting 6+ months to get the 28 W variant (iGPU only) of a 25 W CPU, other OEMs already launched their devices with that same CPU and an actual dGPU in a 13" laptop half a year ago.
Meanwhile, laptops with AMD's Ryzen 4000 U series are coming to market now and are significantly more powerful than Intel's Ice Lake. They're offering performance competitive with Intel's 45 W H series chips.
To top it off, other OEMs are already testing Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake-U with Xe graphics for laptops coming to market in roughly 5 months.
Hoping Apple roles out a CPU spec bump soon!
That said, this is one reason why Apple is likely going to switch to its own chips.