The Identity of the 'Black Box' Appearing at the MacBook Event [Tech Talk]

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On the 30th of last month (local time), towards the end of Apple's new MacBook Pro unveiling event, a black machine box connected to the MacBook briefly appeared on camera. At that time, the presenter was explaining the speed of genomic analysis (DNA sequencing) using the MacBook's M3 chip.

This black box is the 'P2 Solo' developed by Oxford Nanopore, the world's first portable DNA sequencer. Although it appeared only momentarily, it is a device with the potential to someday expand Apple's business domain into life sciences.

The black machine next to the MacBook is a portable DNA analysis device

Oxford Nanopore's genome analyzer 'P2 Solo' captured on camera at the MacBook event [Image source=Apple YouTube]

Oxford Nanopore may be a somewhat unfamiliar name to the general public, but it is a well-known company in the life sciences field. Founded in 2005 by scientists from the University of Oxford as a spinout (a corporation established by transferring technology from a university research institute), the company develops and manufactures portable DNA sequencers.

Currently, the number one player in the DNA sequencer market is the American company Illumina. However, existing sequencers are large machines and very expensive, making them difficult to purchase unless you are a full-fledged research institution.

In contrast, Oxford Nanopore's differentiating factor is that it has created affordable and lightweight sequencers based on its proprietary 'nanopore sequencing' technology. Although the accuracy of the decoded DNA is lower than Illumina's, recent improvements in accuracy have led it to gradually become mainstream.

DNA sequencers hold the key to next-generation biotechnology

Oxford Nanopore is a company that develops portable genome sequencers. The photo shows the MinIon, a sequencer the size of a USB drive. [Image source=Oxford Nanopore Facebook]

A sequencer is a device that 'decodes' microbial, animal, plant, or human genetic information into digital data. Biology and genetic engineering have developed based on this data.

For example, next-generation biotechnology such as 'precision medicine,' which captures specific genomes causing rare human diseases to create customized drugs, and 'cancer vaccines,' which analyze cancer genomes to target only cancer tumors, all depend on the advancement of sequencers.

The international scientific community has tracked the rapidly changing mutations of the COVID-19 virus almost in real time to develop variant-adaptive vaccines, which was made possible thanks to sequencers including nanopore technology.

Therefore, the affordable and easy-to-use nanopore sequencer is a device with limitless future applications. Recently, Oxford Nanopore estimated the potential market size where sequencers could actively play a role to be about $150 billion.

'M3'-equipped MacBook, perfect for genomic analysis tasks

The COVID-19 variant-targeted vaccines were also able to be developed thanks to 'whole genome sequencing' using genomic analysis devices.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

So, what is the connection between such sequencers and the MacBook? As explained earlier, sequencers can convert biological DNA into data. However, the data itself is merely a text file listing simple genetic base sequences. Powerful computing power is required to 'analyze' this data.

Recently, with the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), genomic data analysis using large language models (LLMs) has become common. Thanks to this, NVIDIA's GPUs originally specialized for AI and Apple's M-series chips embedded in MacBooks have been gaining attention in biology laboratories.

The P2 Solo revealed at this event can also be connected to a MacBook. When a DNA sample is loaded into the P2 Solo for sequencing, the completed data file is transferred to the MacBook for secondary analysis via the M3 Pro chip. Oxford Nanopore's genomic analysis software has already been developed in a MacBook operating system (macOS)-optimized version.

Apple transitioning from hardware to service company

The high performance of Apple Silicon chips is attracting various software such as artificial intelligence (AI) and genomic analysis. [Image source=Apple]

The collaboration between Nanopore and MacBook aligns with Apple's 'ecosystem strategy.' Based on the high performance of Apple's M-series chips, MacBooks have attracted various professional software to macOS.

As revealed at this Apple event, most high-performance computing power-demanding tasks such as game development, precision machine design, and 3D animation effect tools run on MacBooks.

In fact, such professional software is already a very important new growth engine for Apple, comparable to the iPhone. This trend is very clear from Apple's Q4 earnings announced on the 3rd.

iPhone 15 [Image source=Yonhap News]

Although Apple's hardware growth (iPhone, MacBook) has slowed this year, software service revenue continues to grow. In particular, Apple's SaaS (Software as a Service) revenue is about $22.3 billion, ranking second in the group after iPhone sales ($67.2 billion).

From this perspective, Apple is highly likely to continue attempting a transition from a 'consumer electronics' company to a 'service company.' While the iPhone faces challenges due to the smartphone market slowdown and intense competition, the 'Apple ecosystem' based on powerful computer chips and operating systems is still smoothly expanding its influence.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.