AI is certainly having an effect on the world, and while aspects are definitely bad, there are some positives. Sure, the increased cost of computing parts isn’t one of them, but the potential for AI to sort through patterns and improve medicine might be one of the good ones, even if there’s a risk that data centres for harm, as well.
There are definite concerns, though there are also possible ways the hardware at home could improve things, too, and that’s because the AI hardware inside your devices is also getting better.
While we’re still a long way from being able to harness the model-running power needed for something quite like ChatGPT Astra or Google Gemini at home, the technology is improving all the time, and we could shortly see what some of those changes look like in the world of the Mac.
Apple has long been dabbling in AI hardware, including the AI-dependent neural processing units (NPUs) in their phones since the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, going back nearly ten years. It has taken roughly that amount of time for the world to catch up to what’s next in neural processing, and now that the world sees more AI than it probably wants to, the question may also be simple: what’s next?
Next week, we could have that answer.
Joining Apple’s other October event just recently where it announced home tech, the company will also have an event next week where new MacBook Pro models are expected. The tagline “Pro and Tell” kind of gives that away, but the rumours of a touchscreen MacBook Pro have been pretty persistent lately, with suggestions of a new design, unsurprising given it’s been roughly five years since the MacBook Pro saw one.
The expectation for new Macs will include new processors, but also screens without a notch instead using the Dynamic Island similar to the iPhone, plus potentially a new iPad Mini. Even though the iPhone Duo will almost literally fold an iPad Mini into an iPhone, the price alone would mean folks in need of an iPad Mini mightn’t want to spend the several thousand to buy in.
We should know what all of it means next week, with the announcement on October 28 US time, or October 29 for those of us living in Australia.
