The presence of twelve CPU cores in the first single-chip Apple ARM system was announced by an informant from Twitter under the nickname a_rumors0000. Unfortunately, since Apple’s dedicated A-series chips include both high-performance and energy-efficient CPU cores (as with most high-end mobile processors), it’s unclear exactly what configuration this chip will be. It is also unknown what Apple will call this processor.

However, it was previously rumored that the 12-core chip will include 8 fast and 4 energy-efficient cores. At the same time, the first product in which the new crystal is supposed to be used will allegedly be a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and sales of such a system will begin in the fourth quarter of 2020. The whistleblower also did not say what performance to expect from the 12-core chip, but previous benchmarks may provide some insight.

Tests of the Mac mini based on the A12Z Bionic (4 powerful and 4 energy-efficient cores) showed that even this previous-generation mobile processor runs software fairly well, including through the Apple Rosetta 2 emulator. It surpasses the processor underlying the Surface Pro X, and the built-in In A12Z, Bionic graphics outperforms the corresponding Ryzen 5 4500U and Core i7-1065G7 controllers in OpenCL tests.

This could mean that Apple’s next-generation 12-core processor (theoretically manufactured at 5nm) will be able to offer excellent computing and graphics performance. Let’s also hope that Apple will be able to further increase the autonomy of laptops compared to counterparts based on Intel processors. Autumn promises to be interesting!

According to other rumors, TSMC will be engaged in the production of Apple processors for the Mac, and the latter expects a serious increase in orders in the second half of 2021. At WWDC, the company revealed that a number of major software developers are already ready to release versions of their applications that work directly with ARM chips. The rest of the programs will have to work with the fairly efficient Rosetta 2 emulator (the old one, Rosetta 1, was created during the transition from IBM PowerPC processors to Intel x86). Of course, a new operating system will also be required – it will be macOS 11.0 Big Sur, which will end the era of OS X.