Apple Announces the Move From Intel to Apple Silicon

Apple announced at WWDC 2020 that Macs would transition from Intel x86 processors to Apple-designed ARM-based silicon. It was the Mac’s third major CPU-architecture transition after Motorola 68k to PowerPC and PowerPC to Intel.

Apple introduced Universal 2 binaries so one application package could contain both Intel and ARM code. Rosetta 2 translated existing x86-64 applications for the new processors, while virtualization tools were prepared for ARM operating systems.

The move let Apple use the same broad chip-design strategy across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Instead of adapting Intel processors to its products, Apple could design CPU, GPU, media engines, memory architecture, and power management together with macOS. The first M1 Macs arrived later that year.