Apple to adopt AMD's new Polaris graphics chips in upcoming Macs - report

AMD's latest graphics chips, the Polaris 10 and 11, will make their way into Apple desktops and laptops shipping later this year, a report said on Tuesday.

Several sources have claimed that an OEM design win AMD secured last year was indeed for Apple, according to WCCFTech. Apple currently uses AMD graphics cards in the Mac Pro, 27-inch iMacs, and the highest-end configurations of the MacBook Pro. The Polaris 10 is believed to be best-suited to iMacs, while the Polaris 11 could make its way into MacBook Pros.

On a per-watt ratio, the new chips are expected to be about twice as fast as their predecessors, thanks largely to a smaller 14-nanometer FinFET architecture. For comparison, Samsung versions of the Apple A9 processor — used in the iPhone 6s and SE — are also based on a 14-nanometer process.

It's unknown when Apple might release updated iMacs and MacBook Pros, but these are likely to ship in time for the start of the U.S. school year this fall, traditionally one of Apple's best seasons for Mac sales. The company could conceivably introduce new models at WWDC in June, but Apple has veered away from launching new Macs at the annual event.

Earlier today Apple updated its 12-inch MacBooks with better CPUs and flash storage, and made 8 gigabytes of RAM the default for 13-inch MacBook Airs.

28 Comments

TEAMSWITCHER 15 Years · 113 comments

About 8 years ago

In my office we've had two 15" MacBook Pros (2011) and a 27" iMac (also from 2011) die this year. All suffered from faulty AMD graphics chips. The MacBooks that have Intel Graphics or Nvidia graphics are sill working fine. I sincerely wish Apple would stop using AMD graphics, from my experience AMD degrades the useful life expectancy of Apple products. I'm not sure I will continue to recommend Apple devices if Tim Cook (and his brilliant calculating mind) keeps using CRAPPY AMD Products.

baconstang 10 Years · 1160 comments

teamswitcher said:

In my office we've had two 15" MacBook Pros (2011) and a 27" iMac (also from 2011) die this year. All suffered from faulty AMD graphics chips. The MacBooks that have Intel Graphics or Nvidia graphics are sill working fine. I sincerely wish Apple would stop using AMD graphics, from my experience AMD degrades the useful life expectancy of Apple products. I'm not sure I will continue to recommend Apple devices if Tim Cook (and his brilliant calculating mind) keeps using CRAPPY AMD Products.

Then again, my 2007 iMac 24" has Radeon graphics that have been running just fine for 8+ years. I guess YMMV.

mdriftmeyer 20 Years · 7395 comments

AMD Polaris architecture is far superior to Nvidia and lets not even mention Intel. Not even close.

kaipher 17 Years · 23 comments

I'm confused as to how Apple expects anyone to be able to use CUDA on an AMD. Surely they can't be this blind to AMD's relevance in the industry.

auxio 19 Years · 2766 comments

kaipher said:

I'm confused as to how Apple expects anyone to be able to use CUDA on an AMD. Surely they can't be this blind to AMD's relevance in the industry.

I'm thinking that they're more focused on OpenCL and Metal so that they can avoid being tied to any one hardware vendor. Especially since the work also benefits them on ARM.