Apple seems to be actively lessening its reliance on Intel chips.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is designing its own A-series ARM-based chips, even though Intel processors have powered Apple's Mac lineup for more than a decade. The company isn't going to dump Intel chips right away, but by all indications, it at least wants to dip its toes into the water by developing its own silicon for MacBooks and iMacs. For now, this ARM-based chip is being built with one idea in mind.

In an attempt to save battery life, Apple reportedly wants to offload the Mac's "Power Nap" feature from the main Intel processor. Power Nap lets Macs run software updates, sync to iCloud, and more -- all while the computer sleeps. Some of these features require the Mac to be charging, however, but with a chip that requires less energy, Power Nap's features could maybe one day work with just the Mac's battery.

It's worth stressing Apple might want to ditch Intel altogether, too. Industry insiders have claimed that Apple wasn't happy when Intel didn't have Kaby Lake processors ready for the new MacBook Pro. Apple was forced to launch the machines running old microarchitecture. Also, maybe now, by developing its own silicon, it's ready to better coordinate macOS and Mac releases like it does with iPhone/iOS.

Also, Apple has been investing a lot into its own series of chips for the last seven years, and it even designed an ARM-based chip - the T1 - for the MacBook Pro last autumn. (It controls the Touch Bar and Touch ID sensor.) Experimenting with ARM inside Macs seems like an obvious sign that Apple either wants to take more tasks away from the main Intel processor, or maybe even more closely combine iOS and MacOS.

We'll know more this autumn, when Apple updates the MacBook Pro.