ARM V9 coming to Apple A15 & M2? Siri gets new voices and Apple TV’s getting a new remote. Then I’m answering your iCaveAnswers about AMD going ARM, iPhone 13 Colours, iPad 10, Tim Cook retiring and what MacBook to buy right now. So lets GO

ARM has announced their V9 Architecture, and its the first major update in a decade. ARMv6 was the instruction set in the original iPhone, ARMv7 was the last 32 bit version that was abandoned after the iPhone 5, with the 64 Bit ARM 8 taking over for the 5S onwards. In terms of what ARM v9 means in broad terms, it’s about faster performance, better AI performance and Security. ARMv9 is focused on machine learning but will also benefit general purpose computing, AR, VR and 5G. And we’re already aware of Apple’s interest in AR and VR, as well as how real 5G got last year. CPU performance could improve by over 30% on ARMv9 and all existing software should run perfectly without modification as the standard is fully backward compatible, which given the current performance of Apple’s processors sounds pretty awesome!

Siri gets new voices

The latest iOS 14.5 Beta has introduced new voices for Siri, as well as a new choice of voice (oh that rhymes) when you set up a new iPhone. Gone are the names for the Siri voices, just numbered versions for each accent, though even these are now called varieties. As well as the two new English speaking voices Apple has improved the natural sounding voice synthesis in the English speaking voices as well as Russia & Italy. Apple Says: “We’re excited to introduce two new ‌Siri‌ voices for English speakers and the option for ‌Siri‌ users to select the voice they want when they set up their device. This is a continuation of Apple’s long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and products and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in.” Let me know your thoughts on the new voices in the comments.

Apple TV Remote with new centre button

tvOS 14.5 has turned up references to pressing the touch surface or centre button on the Apple TV remote in the setup segment of its code, prompting excitement about that new Apple TV that we’re all waiting for. Now Jon Prosser has mentioned having seen these packaged up and dusty as they’ve been ready to go for a while – though if that’s the case they’re unlikely to have super modern chips inside, so maybe the A12X/Z rumour is true.

Now it should be pointed out that the previous Apple TV before the Siri remote version had an aluminium body and DID have a centre button, though the Apple TV that is came with doesn’t run tvOS, so it seems way less likely to be about that. Perhaps we’ll be seeing something looking a bit more like that Aluminium design with a physical d-pad style control rather than the touch surface with the up coming version of Apple TV.

There are also thoughts that the next Apple TV could well have more of a gaming focus but this remains to be seen. Before we get into iCave Answers, I know we have a lot of new subscribers, so if you’re new here and would like a shout out in the next video, make sure you’re subscribed and ring the notification bell, then post up #NotificationSquad in the comments so I know who’s in.

Oh, and it doesn’t cost you a PENNY, and there’s going to be a lot of stuff coming up in April that you won’t want to miss with all the new products we expect to drop! Rabid Cyber Asks, Do you think that other companies such as AMD would abandon x64 in favor of Arm after the success of Apple’s M1?

Tech Hyped Asks,

Congratulations on 6k first of all and now so as you know there are leaks out about new Colors coming to iPhone 13 Series so what are your thoughts on those colors and do you like em?

Joe Asks,

What are you expecting for the iPad (10th Generation)? Joe Asks Do you see Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO) retiring anytime soon?

Suresh K Asks,

Apple is too complicated at this point, I can’t wait for the new Macbooks with 32gb anymore, I have a Late 2013 MBP 15″ Retina with 2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16gb 1600 MHZ DDR3, 512gb SSD and also GeForce GT 750M 2gb. It’s working fine, but not enough for vfx and animation production. Battery is completely gone. I heard RAM and SSD wear out in 10 years. If I replace the RAM, Battery and SSD with more storage, would it make it a bit faster and stable until the 32gb M1 / M1x comes out? OR should I just invest in a M1 16gb Macbook right now and take a 50 – 60% loss when trading in for M1x? Budget is tight! Thank you for everything!!

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