Apple iMac Pro Could Add A10 Fusion SoC For Always-On Siri Voice Control
If you are bummed out that Apple has decided to delay the HomePod speaker until next year sometime, it least looks like Siri will still be getting a new home somewhere other than an iPhone. The iMac Pro is still set to launch in the next month or so; it's reportedly due before the end of the year. In addition, a new rumor has surfaced concerning the iMac Pro that claims Siri will get a home inside the high-end AIO desktop PC.
The rumor stems from some digging that developers Jonathan Levin and Steve Troughton-Smith did in the available BridgeOS 2.0 software package. In their sleuthing they found evidence that the iMac Pro will get an A10 Fusion ARM co-processor chip. This will be the first time that a Mac has used this type of chip.
Confirmed: "Hey, Siri" is coming to the Mac pic.twitter.com/Dw9bRAzbxD
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 18, 2017
There are a couple things that cramming this coprocessor inside the iMac Pro could allow. First, Troughton-Smith notes that the A10 Fusion chip would allow Apple to "experiment with tighter control" of the OS. The more interesting bit is that he says the A10 Fusion chip would allow for an always-on "Hey Siri" feature. The developer says that it appears that the A10 Fusion chips is always on and working, even when the iMac is turned off.
Privacy advocates of course might not like the idea of an always-on listening device in their home or office that can’t be turned off. This isn’t the first time that an ARM co-processor has been tipped for the iMac Pro. A similar rumor surfaced last summer.
If you have previously missed the details of the iMac Pro, it's reportedly a beast. The machine will be offered in 8-, 10-, and 18-core Xeon configurations and rock a 27.5-inch 5K display with Radeon Vega graphics inside. Buyers with cash to burn can get up to 128GB of DDR4-2666 ECC RAM and up to 4TB of SSD storage. It will also be crazy expensive starting at $4,999. The official launch date is unknown, but Apple has promised launch by the end of 2017, so it's only about a month and a half away now.
