Apple Inc.’s next MacBook Pro laptops are expected to feature homegrown Arm-based chips instead of Intel Corp. silicon and will do away with the computer series’ hallmark Touch Bar, according to a new report.

The upcoming MacBook Pros were detailed on Thursday by 9to5Mac. The publication attributed the information to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who over the years has predicted the specifications of many devices from the iPhone maker before their launch.

Two new laptops are expected with 14-inch and 16-inch displays, respectively. Both models are said to be powered by Apple Silicon. That’s the iPhone maker’s marketing term for a line of systems-on-chip it has developed based on Arm Ltd. designs to replace Intel processors in the Mac lineup.

The company to date has introduced one Apple Silicon chip, the M1, which already powers a few Mac devices. The M1 is based on a five-nanometer process and features 16 billion transistors, or about 35% more than the number of transistors in the latest iPhone’s processor. Apple says that, when running certain applications, the central processing unit inside the chip can provide twice the performance of an Intel CPU or the same performance using a quarter the electricity. 

One of the biggest contributors to the M1’s speed is a feature dubbed UMA. It’s a memory technology that allows the computing modules inside the chip to process a piece of data without creating multiple copies of the data as other processors do, which improves efficiency. In another departure from other chips on the market, UMA memory is integrated directly into the M1 as opposed to being packaged as a separate component. 

It’s possible the rumored Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pros won’t feature the M1 but rather a newer chip design. In the mobile market, Apple usually refreshes chip designs between product generations.

Apple’s next MacBook Pro models are reportedly expected to introduce certain design changes alongside the upgraded internals. Most notably, the company is said to be planning to leave out the laptop family’s hallmark Touch Bar, a touch screen above the keyboard that provides access to virtual shortcuts such as copy and paste buttons. The feature’s removal is said to be part of a broader redesign of the MacBook Pro that will bring a “flat edge” chassis with squared-off sides.

This week, early rumors have also started starting to emerge about Apple’s next iPhones, though the devices are not expected to debut for at least 10 more months. The company is said to be experimenting with a new embedded cooling system for the iPhone that would use water vapor to absorb heat generated by the the handset’s circuitry.

Image: Apple