In 2020, Apple made a successful, correct and, without exaggeration, revolutionary step by announcing the transition to its Apple Silicon processors for Mac computers. This moment was the culmination of the company’s many years of work in the hardware industry, which began with the first attempts to create its own chips for the iPhone. The new Apple Silicon chips changed the rules of the game in the market, allowing the company to reach new heights and break sales records, as they are still unmatched in terms of performance and energy efficiency.
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Apple Silicon is a series of Apple processors for iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, and iPad that has been setting new standards in the field of computer technology for almost four years. The history of Apple Silicon processors begins with the announcement in 2020, but the prerequisites for this decision have been formed for decades. The company knew exactly what they wanted and had been working towards their goal for longer than it might seem at first glance.
The transition to its own CPUs was a significant step in Apple’s strategy to control all product development cycles. This had a particularly positive impact on the cost of technology, as it became really profitable, and not as it was in the days of Intel + Apple, when their laptops were called «overpriced».
Let us consider the history of Apple M1, M2, M3, M4 processors and their Pro, Max, and Ultra versions. Let’s figure out what the secret of success is and why there is still no hint of competition from Samsung, Qualcomm, Mediatek, Huawei, Google, Intel, and AMD.
Apple started developing computers back in 1976, but for the first few decades it used processors from other manufacturers. For example, in the 1990s, Apple had PowerPC processors developed jointly with IBM and Motorola.
It was a smart move for Apple because at the time, PowerPC processors had significant performance advantages over Intel processors. You could say they were the kings of the market. The PowerPC architecture was indeed successful, but it eventually reached its peak, having no potential for development, which is not the case with the x86 architecture, which was rapidly gaining momentum at the time.
By the mid-2000s, it became apparent that PowerPC processors no longer met Apple’s needs. Problems with heat dissipation and power consumption, coupled with lagging Intel in performance, forced Apple to make the painful decision to switch to Intel processors in 2005.
Owners of the flagship PowerBooks were disappointed because they no longer received software updates. The architectures were very different, so there was no backward compatibility. This step was perceived as risky, but it ended up being successful.
The switch to Intel did not mean that Apple completely abandoned the idea of developing its own processors. Rather, Intel became a temporary «crutch» for the period of developing its own processors. In 2008, Apple bought P.A. Semi, a company that developed energy-efficient processors based on the ARM architecture. This acquisition was the first step in Apple’s long-term strategy to take full control of hardware development.
Hundreds of millions of iPhones were sold worldwide, breaking sales records. The unprecedented demand and kilometer-long lines for the new smartphone led to a rapid rise in shares and a favorable financial climate within the corporation. There was a lot of money and it was not spared for in-house development. In 2010, the company introduced its first proprietary A4 processor, which was used in the iPhone 4.
It was developed based on ARM architecture and was Apple’s first major step in creating a CPU. Since then, Apple has continuously improved its A-series processors used in the iPhone and iPad, gradually increasing its importance in the chip development industry.
If at the beginning of their journey, their processors were not something amazing, often losing to competitors, then with the release of the Apple iPhone 8, everything changed. The Apple iPhone 8 Plus based on Apple A11 Bionic left no chance for Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. For example, Samsung Galaxy S8 in the Geekbench 6 test in two times weaker for a fellow competitor from Apple.
Today, the gap has narrowed somewhat (SD 8 Gen 3 only 30-35% slower than the Apple A17 Pro in Single Core), but still remains too large to talk about decent competition between manufacturers. All this is reflected in the poor sales of Android flagship smartphones, while Apple gathers abundant «harvests» customers, taking first place in charts.
The first Apple iPad Pro based on Apple A12Z Bionic was the main hint that these processors would, sooner or later, move from the mobile market to the computer market. This processor was twice as powerful as the A12 (iPhone XS) and in synthetic tests, it put powerful ultrabooks of the time to shame. And so it happened – the monster crawled out of the tablet case and began a «crusade» against the x86 architecture.
In June 2020, during the annual WWDC conference, Apple announced its plan to switch to its processors for Mac computers, called Apple Silicon. This announcement was part of the company’s larger strategy to integrate hardware and software (software played no less important role).
According to Apple, the transition to Apple Silicon allows for more powerful, energy-efficient, and compact computers. And so it happened – the marketers did not lie (nonsense), and fans of classic computers could not recover from the incredible, total defeat for a long time.
The first Apple Silicon processor was introduced in November 2020 and was named M1. It became a sensation on the market due to its high performance, low power consumption, and high-quality software support. A year after its release, it was almost impossible to find a Mac OS program that would not run on ARM M1.
Moreover, in offline mode M1 proved to be faster than most x86 Windows competitors using a Windows environment emulator. If a competitor can do the same job faster than our processors natively through emulation, then it’s time to sound the alarm – AMD and Intel are in a panic.
As for the structure of the crystal itself, a simple and reliable scheme is used here: The M1 is built on a 5-nm process and contains 8 cores (4 high-performance and 4 energy-efficient), which allows it to handle both simple and heavy tasks, while remaining the most «survivable» laptop in terms of battery life.
The concept of processors with different types of cores and without «crutches» in the form of hyper-threading has become an ideal solution for modern laptops. The Neural Engine has also played a significant role, with the help of which the thin laptop has brought powerful workstations to their knees in many scenarios, for example, when editing high-quality video.
After the M1, there was no need to compromise because the laptop turned out to be extremely productive (on par with the most powerful Intel/AMD solutions of the time) and at the same time consumed several times less power.
Switching to Apple Silicon has not only improved battery life, but also made it possible to create a productive laptop with zero performance loss without a connected power supply for the first time ever. If you read our laptop reviews at ITC, you may have noticed that we duplicate all synthetic and gaming tests from the battery and power supply in each material.
This is an important parameter because typical high-end x86 processors lose up to 50-60% of their performance when unplugged. Apple Silicon has put an end to this because the processor requires little power to operate properly. It would seem that the M1 was the perfect product, but the company did not stop there.
After the success of the M1, Apple continued to develop its line of processors. In October 2021, the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors were introduced, which are more powerful versions of the M1 designed for professional users. The M1 Pro has up to 10 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores, while the M1 Max is equipped with up to 32 GPU cores.
In March 2022, Apple introduced the M1 Ultra, which combined two M1 Max chips into a single system. The M1 Ultra is the most powerful processor in the M1 line, offering incredible performance for video processing, 3D graphics, and other heavy-duty tasks.
The next step in Apple Silicon’s development occurred in June 2022 when the M2 was announced. This chip offers only slightly higher performance compared to its predecessors, but it has become even more economical. The successors M3 and M4 also look like a logical continuation, but definitely not a phenomenon, as it was in 2020 with M1.
Apple Silicon has forced us to look at computer technology through a new prism, both for competing manufacturers and for users themselves. Not only fans of Apple technology, but also their haters felt the benefits of this revolution because in the face of strong competition, many excellent solutions from AMD, Intel, and recently Qualcomm for computers.
The massive transition to ARM proved to be successful, so this industry is guaranteed to develop even more in the near future. It is thanks to the abandonment of Intel and the transition to Apple Silicon. The company was able to improve the performance and energy efficiency of its products, lay the foundation for future innovations and cross out the outdated plans of competitors.
Software became a very important aspect because in mid-2021 the transition from x86 architecture to ARM was painless. Every major company considered it an honor to prioritize rewriting their programs for Apple Silicon, and the rest «pulls» by the Rosetta translator without performance problems.
But will other manufacturers be able to strike such a good balance of hardware and software that everything works out of the box without any questions? Time will tell because Apple is already firmly on its feet, and Qualcomm and other manufacturers from Microsoft are just taking the first steps towards a new era of computer technology.
