Apple's In-House Silicon May Lower MacBook Pro Prices, Report Says

Future MacBook Pros may cost less compared to the current models due to the introduction of Apple's own silicon, a new report said.

Apple previously announced that it is shifting its Macs from Intel's chips to its own in-house silicon. The tech giant said it will work to bring the first Apple silicon-equipped Mac to the market by the end of 2020 and is planning to complete the transition in about two years.

The company's decision to shift from Intel to in-house chips could bring a host of benefits, one of which includes a lower Mac price point, a report from TrendForce analysts has shown. This is because of the cheaper cost of chip production.

Previous reports indicated that Apple tapped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce more chips for its upcoming devices. And although these chips are meant to be used for the upcoming iPhone 12 series handsets, these are made using the 5nm process which allows TSMC to pack more transistors in a small space.

TrendForce noted that TSMC's 5nm chip manufacturing process allows the company's processors to compete with other chips in the market, most notably Intel's, which use the 10nm process. The Taiwan-based company's manufacturing process is also more cost-effective compared to Intel's, which can result to cheaper Macs.

“Although Apple still needs TSMC to manufacture its self-designed processors, the production cost of a Mac processor made with TSMC’s 5nm node is currently estimated under US$100, which is considerably more cost-effective compared to the 10nm Intel Core i3 processors, priced around US$200 to US$300 on the market,” TrendForce said.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that future Macs will be significantly cheaper. The lower cost of production could mean that Apple will be given more freedom to splurge on other enhancements to the Mac experience, especially when compared to using the more expensive Intel silicon.

These should be taken with a grain, however, as they remain to be speculations at the moment.

Still, it's worth noting that TSMC's 5nm chips are cheaper than Intel's 10nm chips. This may or may not translate to cheaper Mac prices in the market. They will, however, mean less production costs for Apple.