The tech giant took that first step Tuesday when it announced a new line of Macs with chips designed in-house, ditching a 15-year relationship with its old chip supplier Intel.

These new chips designed by Apple - called the M1- will allow app developers to create families of apps that work on both computers and phones.

The new brains will power three revamped Macs that will hit store shelves next week, along with a new operating system built for the M1.

And a big promise from Apple executives.

(SOT- LAURA METZ, MAC PRODUCT LINE MANAGER)

"That same incredible efficiency also delivers extraordinary battery life with up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to an amazing 18 hours of video playback, that's six hours longer than before. And when your video conferencing, which can rapidly drain the battery, you can go up to twice as long on a single charge."

Apple hopes all that will give a boost to Mac sales. The computers are already having a pretty strong year with $9 billion in sales in the last quarter alone as more people conduct work and school from home ... but the Mac has always been overshadowed by the global blockbuster success of the iPhone.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

"Advancements of this magnitude only come from making bold changes. The M1 chip is by far the most powerful chip that we have ever created. It makes these Macs dramatically faster, provides all-new capabilities with extraordinary battery life and enables the Mac to run more software than ever."

Apple's global market share was only 8 percent in the third quarter, according to research firm Gartner, compared to double-digits each for Windows-based PCs made by Lenovo, Dell and HP.

The stock just about gave up all its gains after Tuesday's announcement.