Apple is apparently expecting high demand for its upcoming Apple Silicon-powered MacBooks, says a new report from Nikkei Asia. The report says initial orders for the new MacBooks are equal to nearly a full fifth of total MacBook sales last year.
Apple is asking suppliers to produce 2.5 million MacBook laptops powered by its in-house designed CPU by early 2021 as the California tech giant looks to rapidly cut its reliance on Intel chips, sources have told Nikkei Asia.
These initial production orders for the first MacBooks to use the Apple Silicon central processing unit are equivalent to nearly 20% of total MacBook shipments for 2019, which came in at 12.6 million units, sources briefed on the matter said.
The U.S. tech giant is slated to introduce other MacBook models using its own CPUs in the second quarter of next year, further replacing Intel’s microprocessors, the sources added
The CPUs for the new Apple Silicon Macs are being fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), using the company’s most advanced 5-nanometer chip manufacturing technology, the report’s sources said.
Apple is expected to unveil its first new ARM-based Macs at next week’s One More Thing event. While we’re sure new Macs will be the focus of the event, we don’t know for sure which models will be unveiled as the first Apple Silicon Macs, as in whether the first models will be low-end or high-end Macs. Recently two reliable sources have indicated we’ll see both.
Fairly reliable leaker @L0vetodream has tweeted a vague message “13 inch X 2,” suggesting we’ll see two 13-inch MacBook models as the first Apple Silicon Macs.
Recently, well-connected Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the first two ARM-based Macs would be new versions of the 13-inch MacBook Air and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
