24 Apr 2024 · Semaphore News · 2 min read

    Announcing Apple Silicon Machine Types

    Contents

    Today we are introducing new machine types, Apple Silicon M2 machines. These machines bring reduction of build and test times for developers working on macOS, iOS or any other platform type supported by Apple Hardware.

    Who are these for?

    The new machines are suitable for all projects that are creating applications for Apple’s Ecosystem and use XCode 15 and above.

    📊 New Machines Performance Benchmark

    We’ve conducted benchmarks comparing the new M2 machine types against our existing AMD64 ARM machines using the XCode Benchmark repository.

    M2 vs ARM64 build performance on Semaphore.

    Using the new a2-standard-4 machine type (Apple Silicon M2) can reduce your build times by up to three times.

    Semaphore M2 build workflow.
    Apple Silicon M2 machine build on Semaphore versus AMD64.

    Getting Started with Apple Silicon Machines

    To utilize the M2 Silicon machines in your Semaphore projects, specify the machine type in your agent configuration:

    version: 1.0
    name: Apple Based Pipeline
    
    agent:
      machine:
        type: a2-standard-4
        os_image: macos-xcode15

    Or use the Workflow Builder to select the machine type:

    🛎️ Please note that the a2-standard-4 machine type only supports the macos-xcode15 image.

    Conclusion

    The new Apple Silicon machine types reduce build times 🚀 for developers building applications for macOS, iOS, or any other platform supported by Apple’s hardware.

    If your codebase supports XCode 15, you can switch to new a2-standard-4 machines starting today!

    For more information check out the 📚 documentation.

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    Bostjan Cigan
    Writen by:
    A Senior Engineer with a passion for community building and knowledge sharing.
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