Oliver Haslam·

Apple Offering An ARM Developer Kit Based On A Mac mini With An A12Z Chip Inside

Apple today announced that it is ditching Intel and making the switch to its own ARM-based Mac chips starting this year. That means that developers will need to start getting their apps ready – and soon.

To that end, Apple is already offering a development kit that includes a Mac mini with an A12Z chip that powers the current iPad Pro, for $500.

The arrival of ARM Macs will begin with the macOS 11 Big Sur update later this year and while that same update will allow users to emulate Intel hardware on Macs running Apple silicon, it isn’t ideal. So developers need to get to work, which is where the new kit comes in.

With exclusive access to a Mac Developer Transition Kit with Apple Silicon, a comprehensive set of resources, and one-on-one technical support, you’ll have everything you need to get your Universal apps ready before Apple Silicon Macs become available to customers.

Part of that kit is a Mac mini with its innards ripped out. Inside will be an Apple A12Z chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Developers must pay $500 for this kit, with Apple also pointing out that it must be returned.

As part of the program, you’ll have limited access to a Developer Transition Kit (DTK), which will be shipped to you, for developing and testing your Universal apps. The DTK is owned by Apple and must be returned.

So, that’s a thing! Developers can find out more about the transition to ARM-based Macs on the Apple developer website.

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