Opportunist Apple With ARM-Made M1 Chipset

JAKARTA - Apple has just introduced its own chipset, the M1. This ARM-based processor is a new brain for Mac computer devices, replacing chipsets made by Intel.

As the Apple Silicon M1 system on chip (SoC) is packaged in a 5nm processor fabrication, the same as the A14 Bionic line on the iPhone 12 series. Where Apple promises the performance of its processors is better than the previous generation.

Apple says that their main focus is efficiency. They use 'Unified Memory Architecture' technology, which means the RAM, CPU and GPU can be used together which allows for a reduction in power consumption.

"Performance and industry-leading features while continuing to focus on the performance efficiency of the M1," said SVP, Apple Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji, in his presentation, as quoted by VOI from Apple's website, Wednesday, November 11.

In terms of specs, the new M1 chip has an incredible 16 billion transistors, much higher than the 11.8 billion used on the A14 Bionic iPhone 12. CPU cores were also upgraded from six to eight cores to boost performance.

Because the GPU on the M1 is so fast, it is claimed to be able to run multithreaded performance simultaneously. Like 4K video playback, rendering complex 3D images can be done with a total computation capability of up to 2.6 teraflops.

"There has never been a chip like the M1. This is based on more than a decade of experience designing chips for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch," said Johny Srouji,

Indeed, the previous generation of Mac product lines used innards from Intel. However, since its announcement some time ago, Apple has finally decided to end its partnership with Intel which has been going on for 15 years.

Quoted from CNBC, ARM succeeded in developing processors with a more complex and efficient fabrication than the x86 architecture on Intel chips. This is agreed by Apple which later invested heavily in the semiconductor area.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook himself, has long called for a long-term strategy to build Apple's large ecosystem by controlling primary technology from its product line. Eventually they were able to build their own processors for iPhone, iPad, and now Mac PC devices.