We wrote last year about the same time that we had a feeling that Apple would create a MacBook that used the new (at the time) A10 chip since its performance was on par with the Intel Core M processor that the 12" MacBook used.

Now, Apple has announced the iPhone 8/X series with the new A11 Bionic chip. The performance increases are substantial from the A10 chip, and it seems like it would be a reasonable expectation that an ARM based MacBook (Pro) is in secret development.

Imagine if Apple was no longer constrained by Intel's chip roadmap and could decide themselves what CPUs to put into their Macs. Look at the benchmarks from MacRumors comparing the 2017 MacBook Pro Core i7 to the A11 and it's incredible that the iPhone X has a faster multicore score than the MBP!

2017 MacBook Pro Core i7

What about the current macOS apps out there - they won't run on an ARM based machine, right? Well, at least all the current apps on the Mac App Store are complied using Bitcode, so Apple can simply re-compile all the apps for the ARM architecture. And developers who have apps available through their websites (like us), can also re-build them and offer them for ARM as well.