WWDC: Will Apple surprise with new hardware?
Received wisdom is that Apple won’t introduce new hardware at WWDC this morning in consequence of the global memory chip shortage, but what if Apple has something else in mind?
Apple’s hardware surprise?
Taiwan’s Commerical Times has published a tale in which it claims a Mac Studio with an M5 Ultra chip may make its debut at the developer event.
This seems unlikely, given Apple recently withdrew some models of Mac Studio and Mac mini from sale, but isn’t completely impossible.
After all, announcing new Macs today to ship later this month would still be the “months” of choppy supply outgoing CEO Tim Cook warned of during Apple’s most recent fiscal call – and if memory is hard to find for the current models it’s just the same thing, only with new models and a long wait list.
What’s also interesting about the report is some of the claims it makes concerning the architecture of the M5 Ultra processor, principally Apple’s continued use of UltraFusion to combine two M5 Max chips to create one hugely powerful M5 Ultra.
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The report predicts that makes for a 36-core CPU, an 84-core GPU, unified memory of up to 512GB and bandwidth at around 1,000GB/s. These Macs will be fast, though memory may be scarce.
The best ecosystem for AI development; the best hardware for it too
The idea that Apple will introduce them at WWDC isn’t completely beyond the pale.
Apple has introduced new Macs at the show before. It is also very, very true to note that while the company’s focus is on AI at WWDC, it is supported by its ongoing goal to ensure Macs are and continue to be the best systems to build AI apps on.
That’s why a hardware announcement of this kind would kind of support Apple’s intent this year. How much reaction would the introduction of upgraded Mac Studios (and Mac minis) generate if announced at the developer show, given the extent to which both are seeing huge adoption at this time?
What would Apple’s AI development bragging rights be with an M5 Ultra Mac Studio cluster over Thunderbolt? Hello trillion parameter LLM model, I’m pleased to run you locally.
The other speculation coming out of the report concerns the MacBook Ultra’s anticipated touchscreen, though this is not anticipated for introduction at the show, in part because the report implies component manufacturing hasn’t caught up on need just yet.
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