A roadmap leaked by Intel suggests the company is developing a new CPU lineup with the goal of surpassing Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips for Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro in late 2023 or early 2024, which will be nearly two years after the new chips and laptops debut.
Features of the M1 Pro and Max
Intel's roadmap, originally leaked by AdoldTV and interpreted by Wccftech, makes it clear that Intel wants to compete with Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro with its Arrow Lake line. Under that roadmap, Intel's 15th Gen Arrowwater processors could be ready for shipment in late 2023 or early 2024, prioritizing high performance while using minimal energy.
The leaked Intel roadmap was shared online by AdoledTV
With Arrow Lake, it looks like Intel will first put mobile devices on top of desktop devices, and while there will be two CPUs, Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-P, the company aims to first specialize in producing its 15th-generation mobile CPUs to handle Apple's next-generation MacBook 14-inch laptop. Based on the leaked roadmap, it looks like we will see the first engineering samples ready in late 2022 and early 2023, with the QS chip shipped in the third quarter of 2023 and final production starting in the same quarter. Finally, the CPU will be ready for RTS (Ready for Shipment) in the fourth quarter of 2023. So that means we'll be rolling out the next-generation Arrow Lake mobile CPU lineup in late 2023 or early 2024.
The roadmap also says Intel will use TSMC's 3nm process. Apple currently uses the 5nm process to produce its latest chips, and is expected to adopt a 3nm chip architecture in 2023 through the "M3" Apple silicon chip and the A17 chip in the iPhone 15.
Ignoring high power consumption and poor battery life, Intel has beaten Apple's M1 Max chip on paper. Benchmark tests show that Intel's latest Core i9 processor scored higher scores in tests than Apple's M1 Max chip, but the 4% performance gain compared to Apple's chip was offset by a significant reduction in battery life. Tests have shown that laptops equipped with Intel's latest i9 Core chips can only last 6 hours while video is playing. In contrast, Apple advertises that the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro has a battery life of up to 21 hours for offline video playback.
Ever since Apple announced its transition from Intel in the summer of 2020, it has been slowly transitioning its Mac computers to custom chips. So far, Apple has released four laptops that use Apple chips, along with two desktop computers. In just a few weeks, Apple is expected to announce at least one new Mac with Apple chips, with the possibility of a new high-end Mac mini and an update to the low-end 13-inch MacBook Pro.
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