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Apple recently held an interview with its executives to discuss the Apple Silicon design process and the technology behind it. Laura Metz, Director of Product Marketing, Anand Shimpi of Hardware Engineering, and Tuba Yalcin from the Pro Workflow team were among the attendees who shared their insights and expertise on the topic.
The 30-minute video with Andru Edwards covered various aspects of the Apple Silicon design process, from the role of the Pro Workflow Team to the company’s approach to adding more powerful chips to its devices. One of the key highlights of the discussion was the Neural Engine, a specialized computing component found in Apple Silicon.
First introduced in the A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the Neural Engine is optimized for machine learning and neural networking tasks, such as photography. With the 16-core Neural Engine in the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, it can handle an impressive 15.8 trillion operations per second.
The executives also discussed transistors, the building blocks of computer chips, and how advancements in semiconductor processes have enabled manufacturers to add more transistors to chips.
By moving to smaller transistor technology, Apple can deliver better performance, efficiency, and battery life in its devices. As transistors get smaller, manufacturers can add more of them, which can result in additional cores for the CPU and GPU.
Finally, the team touched upon the Pro Workflow team, a group of experts across various fields, including music, video, photography, and 3D visual effects. The team’s mission is to test the limits of Apple Silicon and provide feedback to the engineers, helping to ensure that Apple’s products meet the demands of professionals in various industries.