Apple prepping SoC with 32 high-performance CPU cores and 128 GPU cores

Probably the biggest processor surprise of the year was Apple's M1 SoC. A lot of people thought Apple's switch to ARM would come with a lot of drawbacks but the company proved everyone wrong. The M1 SoC is the Cupertino-based company's first attempt at a computer processor and it's truly what Apple has achieved.

The M1 SoC is a low-end product yet it delivers stunning performance. But that's not the most impressive part, it also consumes very little energy. The performance per Watt is amazing and everyone is looking forward to what Apple can achieve with larger versions of its Apple Silicon.

Now there's some news about what Apple has in store for 2021 and 2022. Bloomberg reports Apple is developing chips that will significantly outperform the best offerings from Intel.

MacBook Pro and iMac
The current M1 SoC, which is used for the Mac mini and low-end MacBook Air and MacBook Pro systems, has 4 high-performance cores and 4 energy-efficient cores. The next-generation Apple Silicon for the MacBook Pro and iMac will reportedly offer up to 20 cores, with 16 high-performance cores and 4 energy-efficient cores. The Bloomberg report does indicate that the 20-core model may be launched later and that initial models may feature SoCs with 8 or 12 high-performance cores. These systems are expected in the first half of 2021.

Mac Pro with up to 32 high-performance CPU cores
Later in 2021, we can expect higher-end desktop models, and there's a half-sized Mac Pro in the cards for 2022. Apple is said to be testing chips with 32 high-performance cores for these high-end offerings.

And more GPU cores too...
The high-end versions of Apple Silicon will also get a lot more GPU cores. The current M1 SoC is offered with 7 and 8 GPU cores but the upcoming MacBook Pro and mid-range desktops will allegedly get 16-core and 32-core graphics parts. And that's just the beginning. Apple's future desktop computers could get configurations with 64 and 128 graphics cores.