Over four years ago, Apple announced that it was going to stop using Intel processors in its Macs and start using its own silicon. At the time, it sounded like a daunting task, but feasible thanks to the years of success using its own silicon in the iPhone.
The fourth generation of M-series chips in the Mac was released in November. While on the surface, that doesn’t sound like much, it actually has a deeper meaning. The Mac lineup now feels like it is whole–there aren’t major hangups that could make customers second-guess an investment.
The transition from Intel chips to Apple silicon is finally complete. Here’s why that is: the obstacles that have been overcome and the considerations that users had to make that no longer cast any doubt.
Production rhythm
Apple released its very first Apple silicon Macs, the M1 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini in November 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The pandemic affected production, which in turn affected Apple’s chip release cycle.
Once the pandemic ended, Apple and its chipmaker, TSMC, worked to get back on track and yeah later we’re finally starting to see a regular cycle with the M chips. Implementation of new production techniques affects that cycle, but it’s not as disruptive. We now have a better sense of when a new generation of chips will arrive, which makes for shoppers who can make informed buying decisions.
The M4 comes at the right time
When the M1 was released, it offered incredible performance boosts over the Intel chips it replaced. But Mac users tend to hold on to their Macs for as long as possible—there’s a strong desire to get the most out of the sizable investment. If someone had bought a new Intel Mac a year or two before the M1’s release, convincing them to upgrade so soon wasn’t easy, especially when Intel apps ran perfectly fine thanks to Rosetta 2 (see below). Even the new design and performance gains of the M2 or M3 may not have been convincing enough.
But with the release of the M4, the time and performance gap between it and the last set of Intel CPUs used in Macs is so vast now that it can’t be ignored any longer. Below are benchmarks for the M4, M1, and the Intel 3.8GHz Core i7, which was one of the last Intel chips (and one of the fastest in a Mac) in the 2020 27-inch iMac.
The M4 doesn’t offer twice the performance of the Core i7, but it’s close. That’s a noticeable difference, whatever you’re doing on your Mac. Even if you think your Intel Mac is fast enough, it’s hard not to feel like you’re missing out.
It’s not just about performance. Apple chips are much more efficient than Intel chips, saving battery life on MacBooks and generating less (if any) fan noise on desktop Macs. It all combines to remove any doubt about Apple silicon’s ability to replace Intel chips.
Thanks for the memory
With the M4, Apple decided to set the base unified memory configuration at 16GB. It was a change that was a long time coming–8GB is doable, but 16GB makes a noticeable difference.
The RAM increase is an important factor in the Apple silicon transition because it’s no longer a hurdle to adoption for someone who’s still using an Intel Mac. It makes the Mac run more efficiently and helps with supporting current and future Apple Intelligence features. And by not raising prices, Apple essentially cut prices by $200 across its entry-level models.
New designs
When Apple introduced the M1 in November 2020, it didn’t change the designs of the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini. But when Apple introduced the M1 iMac a few months later, a completely new iMac design was also revealed, creating anticipation for more new designs throughout the Mac line. When those new designs eventually arrived, they not only breathed new life into each model, but they were also exciting and showed real innovation for the first time in years.
The Mac mini was the last consumer Mac to get a major redesign, and along with the M4, the Apple silicon transition cycle is complete.
Foundry
The new Mac designs didn’t have a direct effect on the Intel-to-Apple silicon transition, but they show the possibilities that Apple’s chips open up. By controlling the whole stack, Apple can design chips and cases that push boundaries, and the current lineup is the best Apple has made in years.
Software update
A major concern during the Intel-to-Apple silicon transition was software compatibility. Apple addressed this issue, for the most part, with Rosetta 2, Apple’s software that allowed apps written for Intel to run on Apple silicon. Rosetta2 worked well for a vast majority of apps.
Now that we’re over four years since the start of the transition, developers have had plenty of time to update their apps so that they can run natively on Apple silicon and no longer need Rosetta. You can find apps that won’t run on Apple silicon, but often the developers of those apps have abandoned the Mac. And you’re likely going to find a replacement that’s better anyway.
The M5 cometh
Finally, the upcoming M5 chip actually plays a role in the M4 and the idea that the transition is complete. With its release expected in late 2025, it reaffirms a regular release cycle for Apple. It should provide a 15 to 25 percent performance boost over the M4–the typical improvement from generation to generation that we’ve seen since the M1. It also could be the first M-series chip where the Mac feels “settled,” where everything about each model is in place and seems right for today’s customer.
Sure, there are upgrades in the future that Apple will do, such as OLED displays and cellular connectivity in the MacBook, but those upgrades aren’t expected to happen until 2026 or later, and they don’t affect the transition. If anything, the completion of the transition is why those upgrades can happen in the first place.
