Apple has switched processors before. Apple switched Macs from the original Motorola 68000 series of CPUs (Central Processing Unit) to the PowerPC RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) chip codeveloped by IBM and Motorola, and later to the Intel x86 family made popular by Windows PCs. But it was not without controversy, and they had compelling reasons to do so, such as performance and availability. As if by clockwork, there is another rumor that Apple might do it again, this time with the ARM chip used in their iOS product line. Apparently, according to Apple Insider, Apple is testing a MacBook Air type device running with an ARM chipset.
There are some reasons to make this plausible. One chipset could be easier to develop for. If iOS and Mac OS are ever to merge (or if Mac OS is phased out) then a universal hardware platform would be helpful. The ARM chips are more battery friendly, and now that they support 64-bit processing, they can do most of what the Intel chips do, though perhaps not as much in terms of graphics.
On the other hand, switching away from Intel could cause problems. Macs can run Windows natively, via Boot Camp, or as a virtual machine thanks to Parallels, VMware, Virtual Box and other mechanisms. Many have said that Apple makes the best Windows PCs in fact! This compatibility advantage could go away with a new CPU. Speaking as an app developer, porting apps to a new chip could be a hassle. Apple's App Store could make the process easier, much the way users can search for iPad apps versus iPhone Apple could have a filter for ARM vs Intel apps.Apple might not want to alienate Intel, either who is a partner with technology like Thunderbolt. Hitching Apple's wagon to a single CPU also limits their options, if the ARM chip can't keep up with Intel in the future.
Ultimately, options may be exactly the point. By testing ARM-based Macs, Apple keeps their options on the table. It ensures Intel has to keep delivering and offers Tim Cook flexibility in the future Perhaps Intel could be reserved for desktop iMacs and Mac Pro devices, but future MacBook Airs could be ARM based. Since Apple controls the Mac OS App Store, it would be easier to restrict such a MacBook Pro to only run apps from that store, similar to Microsoft's Surface Pro and Surface RT. Maybe the device being tested is ultimately going to be an iPad Pro, with a clamshell keyboard plus touchscreen design?
We can't give too much credence to these rumors. When I worked at Sun Microsystems in the 1980s and 1990s, we built lots of prototypes to test concepts and many went pretty far along, but never shipped as a commercial product. It's good to see Apple experimenting and indeed, the real surprise would be if they didn't have such a skunkworks project!
