Apple Silicon Transition in 2022

Monday, 3 January 2022

Each year, I like to sit back and think about what the coming year may look like for technology. This year, I decided to write about some of my predictions. These are my thoughts for the remainder of the Apple Silicon Transition, in 2022.

Apple Silicon Transition

Back at WWDC 2020, Apple announced that it would begin a transition to Apple Silicon that would last for roughly two years. If we take that statement at face value, then by June of this year we should have a full lineup of desktops and laptops, all using Apple Silicon.

Ever since the announcement, there has been endless speculation about how each product would be transitioned to Apple Silicon. Fast-forward to now, we are really starting to get a feel for what Apple is capable of when they have greater vertical integration in the Mac lineup. As of January 2022, we have seen updates for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (twice), Mac mini, and the 24-inch iMac. The only remaining devices in the current lineup are the 27-inch iMac and the Mac Pro.

Remaining Transition

As I see it, the next product likely to be updated is the 27-inch iMac. I believe Apple will introduce a new iMac, of the same size, that will match the design of the 24-inch iMac from 2021. While matching the style, there will one big difference: the lack of colorful options. With the lack of colors, the 27-inch iMac will be rebranded the iMac Pro, with its smaller counterpart dropping the sizing adjective to be called iMac. Like the iPhone’s of recent, Apple will continue leaving the colorful options to the non-Pro products and provide a limited set of muted-tones to the Pro products.

Finally, the last device to be updated — the big-boy of Mac computers — the Mac Pro. For me, this is going to be the most exciting device to be transitioned. While I am not in the market for the Mac Pro — this device has always aimed to exemplify the greatest of the great of computing. With this transition, we could see the next great leap in computing power and efficiency. This update will present a smaller case and (hopefully) retain all of the expansion slots that are in the current Mac Pro. Removing the expandability of this machine would be a huge step backwards for the company that just made the (famously) modular 2019 Mac Pro.

To me, this transition has been invigorating, to say the least. Once again, I am excited about the Mac. Every release has me waiting with bated breath to see what has been improved. Even with my (now out-dated) 2020 MacBook Pro, I have benefitted from the improved power and efficiency of the Apple Silicon transition with exceptional build and compile times in my Python and Xcode projects. That said, things can always get better, and that is what really excites me about the future of Apple Silicon.