Apple Developer Transition Kit Ships This Week For macOS To Arm Transition

As the rumors had claimed, Apple is officially transitioning its Mac products to its own silicon, a transitional process the company expects will take around two years to fully complete. Amid the many details about this new hardware and plan was mention of the Developer Transition Kit (DTK), a product that will help developers build and test their Universal 2 apps for use with the new systems.

As demonstrated during its keynote this afternoon, Apple's Developer Transition Kit is hardware packed in the Mac mini enclosure; it features the A12Z system-on-chip, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. The DTK runs macOS Big Sur developer beta + Xcode. According to Apple, most apps can be recompiled in only 'a few days.'

Apple plans to release the first batch of hardware featuring its own silicon by the end of 2020, though it promises that Intel-based device owners won't be forgotten. Apple has already built all of its apps for its own hardware, as you'd expect, ensuring that its users have the best experience possible straight away.

Other developers will need to start preparing for this new hardware future now, a process that Apple aims to help simplify with its Developer Transition Kit. Note that the DTK is provided as part of a program that will require developers to return the hardware by the time the program ends.

Developers will need to apply for this program via the dedicated developer.apple.com website, and as expected, the inclusion isn't free. Apple says the total cost for the program is $500. Head over to Apple's dedicated Developer website for more details.