Apple iMac Pro Release Date Remains A Mystery; New Leaks Hint At Always-On 'Hey Siri' Feature

by Vinay Patel / Nov 21, 2017 04:50 AM EST

Apple's long-awaited iMac Pro's release date has finally been announced.

The iMac Pro was announced back in June during Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference); however, the Cupertino-based tech giant has opted to remain tight-lipped about the upcoming desktop computer since.

While Apple continues to keep details about the iMac Pro under wraps, new shreds of information have come from none other than Apple firmware gurus Guilherme Rambo and Steven Troughton-Smith. Apparently, the iMac Pro will come with an A10 Fusion coprocessor.

If the recently-leaked code which has been put together and interpreted by Jonathan Levin is anything to go by, the A10 Fusion chip will enable a couple of awe-inspiring features.

First off, the chip will allow the new pro desktop computer to have always-on "Hey, Siri" voice command support. It's worth noting that latest iPhone devices come with a similar feature.

It can be recalled that the A10 Fusion processor was used in the iPhone 7 and its larger variant, the iPhone 7 Plus.

On Sunday, November 19, Rambo took his Twitter handle (@_inside) to post a video of the much-touted feature that is slated to arrive on the Mac. Aside from that, he even managed to ferret out some Siri sounds from BridgeOS.

Confirmed: "Hey, Siri" is coming to the Mac pic.twitter.com/Dw9bRAzbxD

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 18, 2017

Apple will reportedly make use of the A10 Fusion to enable SecureBoot on the upcoming desktop computer. In other words, Apple will use the coprocessor to carry out the first boot process and check the software before transferring things to the standard x86 Intel processor.

This isn't something that will completely change the way you use your computer; however, the advent of always-on "Hey, Siri" support definitely will.

An earlier report from Bloomberg suggested that Apple was hard at work on a new ARM-based chip designed for the MacBook Pro. The chip would be designed to take care of low-power tasks that are currently handled by Intel's processor.

Apple's new MacBook Pro models bearing the Touch Bar and Touch ID pack a custom ARM chip known as the T1.

While it remains to be seen exactly how the A10 Fusion chip, that is seemingly designed for the iMac Pro, fits into all of this, it is clear that Apple is just trying to gauge the reaction of potential users by adding its A-series chips to the Mac.

It is also unclear how the A10 Fusion chip in the iMac Pro will vary from a myriad of other coprocessor technology the company has used earlier. There's no word regarding the iMac Pro's official release date yet; however, Apple has confirmed that tech enthusiast will be able to get their hands on the device before the end of 2017.