Apple Silicon Saved Apple
Sales of all computers are falling, except for Apple’s
Apple Silicon chips have managed to cripple the world. Apple managed to bring its solution that perfectly solved all the problems of previous Macs and took Apple computers to a new level. It’s no wonder. The new Macs with Apple Silicon offer significantly more power and lower power consumption, making them more efficient and offering longer battery life.
Of course, these chips also have their shortcomings. As Apple has bet on a different architecture, it is also relying on the power of developers to optimize their creations for the newer platform. They don’t have to do that, of course. That’s where Rosetta 2 comes in — a native tool for translating macOS (Intel) apps to run on newer machines.
Such a translation, however, understandably requires some power and may theoretically limit the resources of the whole device. Similarly, we lost the ability to install Windows using Boot Camp natively. Macs with Apple Silicon have been with us since late 2020, and as it continues to show, Apple has hit the bull’s eye with them.
The importance of Apple Silicon
It’s just that when we look at the bigger picture, we find that the custom chips weren’t just a hit and miss for Apple but quite possibly played a much more important role. They practically saved the world of Apple computers. Earlier generations, equipped with Intel’s processor, faced many annoying problems, especially with laptops.
Since the giant relied on a too-thin body that failed to dissipate heat reliably, the devices suffered from overheating. In this case, the Intel processor quickly overheated, and so-called thermal throttling occurred, where the CPU automatically limits its power to prevent this situation. In practice, therefore, Macs faced significant drops in performance and never-ending overheating. In this respect, Apple Silicon chips have been a lifesaver — thanks to their power efficiency, they don’t generate as much heat and can perform optimally.
There’s a deeper meaning to all this. Recently, sales of computers, laptops, and Chromebooks have been in marked decline. Experts attribute the blame mainly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, global inflation, and other factors, which have caused sales to plummet globally and reach their worst figures for several years. Virtually every popular manufacturer has now experienced a year-on-year decline. HP is the worst off. It lost 27.5% year on year, Acer lost 18.7%, and Lenovo lost 12.5%.
However, the decline is also noticeable for other companies, and overall, the whole market has seen a 12.6% year-on-year fall. As mentioned above, every manufacturer of PCs, laptops, and similar devices is now experiencing a decline except for Apple. Only Apple, as the only company ever to do so, has seen a year-on-year increase of 9.3%, which experts say is due to its Apple Silicon chips.
Although these have flaws, and some professionals write them off completely because of them, these are the best they can get now for most users. That’s because, for relatively reasonable money, you can get a computer or laptop that offers top-notch speed and efficiency and generally performs as expected. Apple has saved itself from the current global slump with the advent of its chips and, in turn, can profit from it.
Apple has set a high bar for itself. Although Apple managed to take most people’s breath away with its first generation of Apple Silicon chips, the question is whether it can maintain this success. We already have the first two MacBooks (the redesigned Air and 13″ Pro) with the newer M2 chip, bringing several interesting improvements and more performance than its predecessor.
Still, no one can confirm that the giant will continue this trend. For this reason, it will be interesting to follow the development of new chips and Macs in more detail. Do you have confidence in the upcoming Macs, or will Apple fail to push them forward continuously?
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