What is Apple Silicon? Which devices does it support? What are its advantages?

At Apple's 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple made quite a few announcements, but nothing was bigger than the news that the company was abandoning Intel chips in favor of its own new architecture, known as Apple Silicon.

Learn about Apple Silicon

Apple Silicon brings a common architecture across all Apple products, making it easier for developers to write and optimize software for the entire Apple ecosystem. On November 10th, Apple introduced its first Apple Silicon chip for the M1 Mac , as well as new MacBook Pro , MacBook Air , and Mac mini models powered by the M1. With the new chip and a generation of Macs built without Intel chips, Apple has finally made the transition—not just talk, but a reality that is happening right now.

Essentially, Apple Silicon is an expanded version of the ARM-based chips used in iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, designed for Macs. This has brought all products in Apple's hardware ecosystem under a single design.

By creating its own Apple Silicon, Apple has more control over how macOS and Mac hardware work together. The M1 was the first Apple Silicon chip for Macs, delivering a tremendous increase in performance and efficiency.

Advantages of Apple Silicon

Using Apple Silicon in Macs also means that Macs can now run iPhone and iPad apps. This means that for the first time, you'll be able to find apps for iOS and iPadOS in the Mac App Store.

- Run iPhone and iPad apps on your Mac via the Mac App Store.
- Rosetta 2 lets you run apps created for Intel-based Macs on Apple Silicon. And sometimes apps work better on Rosetta with the M1 chip than on Intel chips.
- Universal apps are apps created for Apple Silicon and Intel processors, and can be downloaded from the Mac App Store or from the web.

Although the new Apple Silicon chip has only been around for a short time, software developers have been working hard to implement applications compatible with this new chip. And recently, VLC Media Player officially announced its support for Apple Silicon. See details here.