Leaked Apple Silicon roadmap hints at new Mac Pro, MacBook Air

AppleInsider · November 5, 2021 1:38PM

A report covering Apple's successors to existing Apple Silicon details two further processors, aimed at the new Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and more.

Apple Silicon

A next generation of Apple Silicon processors will reportedly come in variants known by the codenames Ibiza, Lobos, and Palma. These are said to be separate from Rhodes, the codename for a second generation family of processors aimed at future MacBook Pro models.

According to The Information, unspecified sources who claim direct knowledge of Apple's plans, say that this each of second generation will contain two dies, compared to the one in M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max. Most will also be made using an upgraded version of the 5nm process used to make those processors.

One of the sources says that some such processors will have four dies, and be manufactured using a 3nm process. The source says that this is intended to provide a much bigger performance leap with this processor.

Ibiza is said to be a less powerful version of the third-generation processor. It is said to be likely that it will be used in a new MacBook Air, and to debut in an iPad.

Lobos and Palma are more powerful and expected to be in MacBook Pro model, and other Mac desktops.

The Mac Pro desktop, currently still using Intel, is reportedly in line to receive a processor based on the M1 Max, but this time with two dies.

The Information reports that the Rhodes second-generation Apple Silicon designs, have passed a key milestone. The Rhodes physical design is said to have been finished in April 2021. It is now with TSMC for trial production.

Previous reports about the Mac Pro have suggested that Apple is considering either moving to a brand-new, smaller version, or sticking to a tower. It's possible that Apple will mark the end of its two-year transition to Apple Silicon by unveiling the new Mac Pro in 2022.

However, other reports say that there could yet be a further Intel-based Mac Pro in 2022. A model based on the Intel Xeon W-3300 series could reportedly be released on its own, or alongside an Apple Silicon edition.

Also in 2022, a colorful new range of MacBook Air models could debut what's being called the "M2" processor.

Read on AppleInsider

MacsWithPenguins · November 5, 2021 1:43PM

So .. these are European islands. I guess they do not only use Californian names internally.

lkrupp · November 5, 2021 1:47PM

Whether this rumor/leak is accurate or not we should all know by now that M1 series was just the beginning. Apple would not have made the leap to M1 unless they were confident they could build on the architecture for future products and keep pace with, and ultimately exceed, the existing competition.

Fred257 · November 5, 2021 1:49PM

lkrupp said:

Whether this rumor/leak is accurate or not we should all know by now that M1 series was just the beginning. Apple would not have made the leap to M1 unless they were confident they could build on the architecture for future products and keep pace with, and ultimately exceed, the existing competition.

Well said!! The future is going to be outstanding performance

melgross · November 5, 2021 1:51PM

It’s not clear as to what these will be based on. There is plenty of time for them to be based on the A15 cores. Otherwise, they would be based on cores that would be almost two years old, if these come out in mid 2022, to fully two years old if they come out in late 2022.

merely adding cores isn’t helpful for many tasks, where increased core performance is better.

AF_Hitt · November 5, 2021 2:49PM

melgross said:

It’s not clear as to what these will be based on. There is plenty of time for them to be based on the A15 cores. Otherwise, they would be based on cores that would be almost two years old, if these come out in mid 2022, to fully two years old if they come out in late 2022.

merely adding cores isn’t helpful for many tasks, where increased core performance is better.

Man, if only Apple was aware of this and had people on staff that could handle this dilemma…

godofbiscuits · November 5, 2021 3:25PM

melgross said:

It’s not clear as to what these will be based on. There is plenty of time for them to be based on the A15 cores.

It's not strictly correct to say they're based on A15 cores: the A15 and the M1-series are both derived from the same IP. (as in, no, humans aren't descended from chimps, but rather both humans and chips share a common ancestor). It may sound like a purely academic distinction, but as the Apple Silicon family gets broader and deeper, it's going to get more and more important to keep it clear.

Kuyangkoh · November 5, 2021 3:53PM

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

22july2013 · November 5, 2021 4:19PM

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think if Apple did make a machine in a free and democratic country I would be more inclined to buy it because I support human rights and companies that make products in free countries. Indeed, when I buy things like cutlery in stores I look at where it's made and pay more for products not made in dictatorships.

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

DAalseth · November 5, 2021 4:39PM

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

jpellino · November 5, 2021 4:46PM

MacsWithPenguins said:

So .. these are European islands. I guess they do not only use Californian names internally.

Lots of internal codenames are just team choices and favorites. I worked on "Pokey" which was a fave toon of the lead engineer, "Roger Rabbit" for obvious reasons given the hardware, and "Double Exposure". Rhodes is an island too, but it had a colossus - they seem to be on a creative theme here.

lkrupp · November 5, 2021 6:04PM

DAalseth said:

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

What? As opposed to the “America is not exceptional” and “You did not build that” tripe of the O years?

DAalseth · November 5, 2021 6:14PM

lkrupp said:

DAalseth said:

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

What? As opposed to the “America is not exceptional” and “You did not build that” tripe of the O years?

No it’s just that Freedom Fries and other terms of that ilk got to be such a joke, so universally derided that the term Freedom Seal would be dead in the water at launch.
How about something like a “Certified Cruelty Free Production” or something like that?

tenthousandthings · November 5, 2021 6:29PM

Doesn’t seem like there’s much here other than codenames, except further confirmation of the idea that the desktop-class M1 iMac Pro configurations will be dual and quad …

The big leak might be the news of a 3nm quad design — that seems like exactly what Apple would want for the high end in a new Mac Pro.

22july2013 · November 5, 2021 6:46PM

DAalseth said:

lkrupp said:

DAalseth said:

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

What? As opposed to the “America is not exceptional” and “You did not build that” tripe of the O years?

No it’s just that Freedom Fries and other terms of that ilk got to be such a joke, so universally derided that the term Freedom Seal would be dead in the water at launch.
How about something like a “Certified Cruelty Free Production” or something like that?

Thanks for the feedback. If marketing is an issue, we could always just stick to a factual information label, so if a product was made in Sweden which has Personal Freedom Index of 9.46, the label would simply say "PFI=95%". The same product made in China would currently say "PFI=59%."

DAalseth · November 5, 2021 6:53PM

22july2013 said:

DAalseth said:

lkrupp said:

DAalseth said:

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

What? As opposed to the “America is not exceptional” and “You did not build that” tripe of the O years?

No it’s just that Freedom Fries and other terms of that ilk got to be such a joke, so universally derided that the term Freedom Seal would be dead in the water at launch.
How about something like a “Certified Cruelty Free Production” or something like that?

Thanks for the feedback. If marketing is an issue, we could always just stick to a factual information label, so if a product was made in Sweden which has Personal Freedom Index of 9.46, the label would simply say "PFI=95%". The same product made in China would currently say "PFI=59%."

That could work.

mcdave · November 5, 2021 7:09PM

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think if Apple did make a machine in a free and democratic country I would be more inclined to buy it because I support human rights and companies that make products in free countries. Indeed, when I buy things like cutlery in stores I look at where it's made and pay more for products not made in dictatorships.

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

So you’re basing your purchase decision on whether the factory workers were asked whom they think should run the country? What qualifies them (or anyone) to answer that question? Do they even care?

Freedom, free will or self-determination is the ability to choose from self-determined, not pre-determined, options. When you voted, was the slip blank? Perhaps the ultimate human right is cognisance, does anything about democratic society appear cognisant to you?

patchythepirate · November 5, 2021 7:43PM

DAalseth said:

Makes me eager to see what the next gen M series iPads do.

22july2013 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

Will Apple make those high end Mac in US? Or made in usa simply just a PR a while back!!!

I think someone needs to create a "Seal of Approval" for products that are made in free countries. I would call it the "Freedom Seal." Maybe the logo would look like a seal swimming in the ocean. How many products does Apple make that might qualify for this seal?

I like the concept, but got Dog’s sake don’t call it Freedom Seal. Sounds too much like the jingoistic BS during the W years.

You're that triggered by freedom fries that we can't use the word freedom when it makes sense?

This insane triggering and polarization is why we can't get along as a society.

9secondkox2 · November 5, 2021 8:35PM

Stick with Taiwan. Great country.

Move away from China. Some great people, but an evil dictatorship. Taking our money and using it to force its whims on the world. Including Taiwan.

rob53 · November 5, 2021 9:57PM

Not going to join the off-topic comments, I'm getting back on topic.

I hope these rumors are true because they do signal a fantastic direction for the M-series SoCs. Multiple dies networked together with their high-speed bus (PCIe or home-designed) all with unified memory possibly sharing all memory and storage among all CPUs and GPUs. This is what I was hoping for. If Apple makes these multi-die SoCs with sockets for the Mac Pro that could be absolutely outrageous, giving Mac Pro users upgradeability.

I presume this means at least 20 CPUs and 64 GPUs in a M1 Max-Duo. If Apple can work out a socketed motherboard with empty SoC sockets, the Mac Pro could start with this Max-Duo and quickly become a Max-Quartet, Max-Sextet simply by plugging in a matching Max-Duo. There comes a point where fast is fast enough (not really) but as I've said before, there are scientist who like Macs and having a supercomputer on their desktop just for themselves would be great. I could also see this Mac Pro Max-Sextet being used by movie studios, producing animated features in 8K in real time.

gbdoc · November 5, 2021 11:23PM

While the question of where and by whom something’s made (slave labor or somesuch) isn’t inconsequential, it seems to me the more interesting news here is not politics or human rights, but that Apple can create machines which work better - better than last generation, better than the competition. If they’re now manufacturing that in “bad” places, they can do that in good places as well, and, with enough pressure, will do so. Political correctness has its place, but that, too, can become fanatic overkill, with unintended consequences.

Leaked Apple Silicon roadmap hints at new Mac Pro, MacBook Air

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