Intel’s Next-Gen ‘Kaby Lake’ CPUs Revealed, Likely Bound for Apple’s 2017 iMac and Mac Pro

Intel is expected to upgrade its forthcoming line of Kaby Lake CPUs, and quite substantially so, according to a new document that was briefly published to the CPU and component-manufacturer’s website earlier this week.

The document, which was intended for Intel’s partner companies like Apple and Microsoft, was first discovered by Anandtech, and reveals a total of 11 forthcoming, quad-core CPUs specifically designed for use in desktop computers — such as Apple’s iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro, for example. The Kaby Lake line includes a total of seven Core i5 processors, three i7 variants, and one Xeon E3 “v6” CPU.

The forthcoming CPUs, which are said to start shipping to manufacturers by the first quarter of 2017, are considerably faster than the Skylake line of CPUs they are intended to replace; with base frequencies, on average, clocking in at about 200 MHz higher than the company’s Skylake chips. Still unknown, however, are any additional details, including TurboBoost speeds or thermal design profiles (TDP). However, as AppleInsider points out, the TDP is unlikely to make any significant difference in the grand scheme of things, given the Kaby Lake chips are built around the same 14nm architecture as Intel’s current line of CPUs.

Apple’s current, 2015 iMac line employs the Santa Clara, California-based chip-maker’s i5-5675R or i7-5775R CPUs in the smaller, 21.5-inch models; while the i5-6500, i5-6600, or i7-6700K CPUs are employed within the top-tier, 27-inch 5K model.

That said, Apple’s forthcoming iMac — which could be released perhaps as early as the 2nd half of next year — will potentially employ either of Intel’s Kaby Lake i5-7500, i5-7600, or i7-7700K CPUs, respectively. As for the raw clock speeds of those quad-core chips, the i5-7500 processor clocks in at 3.4 GHz — up 200 MHz, from 3.2 GHz in the current, Skylake-equipped machine. Moving up the food chain, Intel’s i5-7600 is said to hum along at 3.5 GHz, while the i7-7700K — a powerful quad-core, eight-thread processor — clocks in at 4.2 GHz.

In addition to higher clock speeds, Intel’s Kaby Lake CPUs will be the first to feature the company’s proprietary Shift v2 technology, which in itself is capable of drastically reducing the amount of time needed for the CPU to throttle — in some instances, by as much as 20 milliseconds.

As far as Apple’s top-of-the-line Mac Pro is pertinent, which hasn’t been updated since the fall of 2013, utilizes Intel’s E5-1620, E5-1650, E5-1680, or E5-2697 — all of which are built around the chip-maker’s “v2” Ivy Bridge architecture. Given that this technology is now over three years old, it’s possible (but not guaranteed) that Apple could upgrade the Mac Pro with Intel’s forthcoming Xeon v6 CPU — however, given the specific upgrade timeframe of Intel’s Xeon processors, there currently exists no sufficient chip to compare Intel’s forthcoming v6 technology.

Would you upgrade your iMac to one of Intel’s new Kaby Lake processors? Let us know in the comments!